Digimon Adventure Episode 1: The Destined Jedi
by MadDogLucario96
Summary: Jedi AU remake of Adventure 1. When seven kids are dragged into a completely different world, they learn that only they are the ones who can save not only this world but their own as well. With strange abilities and laser swords at their disposal, can these children truly save the world from destruction? Find out. Rated T for violence and coarse language.
1. And So It Begins Pt 1

**Hello all and welcome to what promises to be the most challenging and exciting project that I have ever tackled in my entire FanFiction career so far. I am going to do a re-write of Adventure 1 with Star Wars tones so it is in an alternate universe where the kids are the "Destined Jedi" rather than just the Digidestined.**

 **The original title belongs to a fic that Goku Skywalker and I are writing together, also called the Destined Jedi, so I give him a big shout out for him allowing me to use the title for the first story in the trilogy. I will also be doing 02 and Tri as well once the time comes. Fair warning ahead: some events will be moved up, backed up, and gotten rid of entirely from the original series just so you know ahead of time.**

 **Enough rambling now. It's time to get to the story!**

* * *

 _ **(Cue Star Wars intro music)**_

 _ **Digimon**_

 _ **Episode I**_

 _ **The Destined Jedi**_

 _ **The real world has been thrown into chaos. Reports of strange weather patterns occurring all over the globe have run rampant. No one knows what to make of it. Another world, a digital world, has also been thrown into chaos with a hidden evil slowly making its presence felt.**_

 _ **There exists a prophecy that foretells of eight chosen ones known as the Destined Jedi that will rise to destroy evil and save the universe from destruction. Only they can bring peace.**_

 _ **In a desperate attempt to restore peace, Homeostasis has instructed the being known as Gennai to find the eight Destined Jedi and bring them to the digital world….**_

* * *

 _August 1st, 1999_

 _Odaiba, Tokyo, Japan_

"You sure you're ok?" Tai Kamiya asked his little sister Kari as he placed a wet washcloth over her forehead. He tucked the covers in just a little tighter so that she was comfortable. The poor girl was shivering with fever under the covers but gave him the best smile she could.

"Yeah," she said in a shaky voice. "I'm sorry I can't go to camp with you."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," he reassured, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Just get well while I'm gone."

The eleven-year-old boy frowned as he stuffed away more clothes into his duffle bag. His chocolate brown eyes narrowed as he thought of the events the day before. Maybe that was when she started showing signs of being ill but they were not at all obvious to him, which made Tai feel worse about the situation then he already did. If he had caught them early on, maybe he could have been proactive about the situation and made sure she got some rest. Then maybe she would have been able to go on the camping trip with him.

The two of them were watching news reports about the abnormal weather conditions around the world that day as well. Even though it was the middle of summer, the United States and Canada were blanketed in snow, the Middle East was wet with torrential downpours, and the jungles and wetlands of Southeast Asia were dry as a desert. It may have seemed unusual to him but what was even stranger was when he tried to reach for his soda can. He was so comfortable in his position on the couch that he didn't want to lean over and grab it so he was about to ask Kari to grab it for him until the can mysteriously floated over to his outstretched hand. It was almost like magic. He freaked out the second he realized what had happened, thinking he was losing his mind for believing that, but he had no explanation for it.

"Tai?" Kari squeaked out, still shivering despite being tucked in nice and tight.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked softly, getting to the bed in less than a second. He ran his hand through her hair to try and put her at ease.

"Mommy's close," she said.

"Tai, come on! Let's get going or you're going to be late! Don't forget that we have to get Sora too," their mother's voice came, peering into the room. "Say goodbye to your sister."

Tai looked at the door in amazement. How did Kari know that their mother would be coming in at that moment? In his shock, he stayed put rather than rushing to get his belongings together.

"How did you do that?" he demanded.

Kari shrugged. "I don't know," she replied. "Something just told me that she was."

"Tai!" Mrs. Kamiya yelled from the foyer of the apartment.

Tai decided to let it be for the time being. He'd have to ask Kari about how she knew when he got back. Planting a quick kiss to her forehead, along with a "love you", he gathered his things before his mother could get even angrier.

* * *

"Sora, are you ready yet?"

An auburn-haired girl rolled her crimson red eyes as she zipped up her bag. Her mother had been calling her for the last two minutes and it was starting to wear down on her nerves. It wasn't like her mother was going to accompany her to the bus anyway; she was busy with her flower-arranging class and Sora's father was in Kyoto working as a college professor so he couldn't take her.

Sora didn't mind, of course; she had learned to fend for herself quite well over her eleven years of life due to her mother always being busy and her father being away. It was what earned her the reputation around school for being a tough-as-nails girl who also had a caring and warm personality.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Sora shouted back. Throwing her duffle bag over her shoulder and her favorite blue hat on her head, she walked out of her room and into the foyer of her family's apartment.

"I'm heading out," she called. "See you when I get back."

Without even waiting for a reply, Sora closed the door behind her. Looking down at the streets of Odaiba below, something told her that Tai was nearby. She couldn't explain it but she always seemed to know whenever he was close just by this feeling she would get. The two had been best friends their entire lives and they played on the same soccer team together, despite Sora being the only girl on the team.

Sure enough, she spotted Mrs. Kamiya's car in the parking lot and began to walk towards the elevator.

* * *

Matt Ishida watched the scenery go by without any real interest in it as the bus made its way through the countryside, leaving the urban sprawl of Tokyo behind. Trees, mountains, and other cars breezed by as he watched with an indifferent expression. The handsome blonde-haired boy drifted off into his own world while his Nirvana tape blared in his ears.

"Hey, Matt," a smaller blonde-haired boy poked him in his side to get his attention.

Matt stopped the tape and pulled the headphones down to around his neck so that he could give the boy his full attention.

"What do you want, TK?" he asked.

"I'm bored," the younger boy whined. "Show me that trick that you can do."

Matt anxiously looked around to make sure that no one would be peaking over to watch what he was about to do. It had not been long since he had discovered this ability and no one other than his younger brother knew about it. A couple of rows back, girls were singing the Backstreet Boys' new single at an extremely loud volume, hence why he had worn his headphones in the first place, and others were too busy looking out the windows.

"Ok," he whispered. "But don't tell anyone else about it."

TK quickly nodded his head, bouncing in excitement at what he was about to see. "Ok," he smiled.

Matt gave a small smile of his own. "Good. Hold out your hand."

TK followed his brother's instructions and put his hand out.

Taking a coin out of his wallet, Matt set it down on his knee. He then closed his eyes and concentrated on the coin, willing it to go to TK's outstretched hand. As his mind relaxed, everything around him faded away and the coin became his whole world.

TK's eyes widened in awe as he saw the coin begin to rise from his brother's knee and come down towards his hand. Once it made contact, a thrill of excitement went through the young boy's body.

"How do you do that?" he demanded, a wide smile never leaving his face. "I want to learn how to do it."

The older brother shrugged in response. "I'm not sure. I just woke up one day and I was able to do it all of a sudden."

"Hm," TK's face turned into one of general thought. "Ok. Can you take me to see _Phantom Menace_ after camp?"

Matt could not help but chuckle. "Again?" he asked. "TK, you have seen it four times already. Don't you think that's enough?"

"Of course not," TK indignantly replied.

"Plus it may not even still be playing when we get back," continued his brother. "We can wait for it to come out on video to watch it again."

TK's lower lip trembled, signaling he was about to start crying if Matt didn't cave in. The older brother did not want to have to deal with that right now.

With a sigh, Matt conceded. "Alright, fine. When we get back from camp, I'll take you to see it if it's still playing."

The pouty face quickly turned to joy as TK wrapped his arms around his brother's neck. Matt's eyes widened in shock and reluctantly patted TK on the back.

"Thank you, Matt!"

"Heh. You bet, little dude," he chuckled nervously.

It had been four years since their parents had divorced, and it never seemed to get any easier for Matt. He was only seven when he went to live with his father in Odaiba, while four-year-old TK went to live with their mom in Sangenjaya. The little boy was eight now but did not show any signs of being affected by the divorce, and Matt wanted things to stay that way.

Last week when TK came to visit him in Odaiba, as a part of their parents' visitation schedule, his eyes flashed across the calendar, which had the words 'school camping trip' in big letters and was circled. Immediately, he declared that he wanted to go too. Matt and their father were very apprehensive about the situation, especially Mr. Ishida, because it meant he would have to call his ex and convince her to let him go. It wasn't pleasant, but their mom gave her consent, realizing it would give the boys a chance to spend some time together. After pulling some strings with the main organizer, who was also Matt's teacher, Mr. Fujiyama, TK got permission to go on the trip.

Matt then pulled his headphones back onto his head to continue playing his tape, not wanting to dwell on the unpleasant thoughts that were running through his head.

* * *

A couple of hours later, the bus finally arrived at the camping grounds. Mr. Fujiyama had them all organized into groups with leaders being signified by the wristbands that they wore. Tai saw that he and Sora were assigned to the group headed by sixth-grader Joe Kido. The group also included the Takaishida brothers, as Tai liked to call them due to Matt's last name being Ishida and TK's being Takaishi, and fourth graders Izzy Izumi and Mimi Tachikawa.

Tai knew Izzy from their school soccer club, but Mimi was a bit of a mystery to him. He had seen her several times around school but did not really think much about her. Sora knew her a bit better than he did and told him that she was the high-maintenance, princess type. That information was all he needed to know.

Izzy was a nice enough kid, and Tai did like him, but he never traveled without a computer, or at least an electronic device, on his person. He was one of those computer nerds who could tell you everything about the square of the hypotenuse and recite 'pi' in its entirety.

' _Whatever that is,'_ he thought to himself. _'He probably should have gone to computer camp or something.'_

And whoever decided that age determined leadership obviously had never met Joe Kido. One look at him and Tai instantly concluded that he would be a pushover. Limp-wristed, stiff, pale, and big round glasses, Tai knew that he was not going to be taking orders from a guy like this. It wasn't his instinct to follow and he was not about to start now.

After carrying their belongings off the bus, the groups were instructed to get together and start on their assigned chores for the afternoon before they had their first activity: canoe races.

"Ok, group," said Joe, carrying a bag that was labeled "Emergency Food" on his left shoulder. "We have a lot of things to do in order to make ourselves ready before the canoe races, so let's get cracking."

He handed them all slips of paper that described what tasks they were supposed to carry out and how to do them. One look at it and Tai rolled his eyes while Mimi gave a cry of displeasure.

"I can't do any of this," she complained. "I didn't even want to be here in the first place!"

"Well too bad," Joe grumbled with a stern expression. "We're all a group and we need to do our part, Mimi."

"But carrying water? Chopping firewood?" Mimi whined even more. "That's a bunch of work."

"That's the point!" Joe's face became beet red.

Sora stepped in-between them to calm things down. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Take it easy," she said before turning to the despaired girl with a warm smile. "Mimi, I have an idea. Why don't you help me out by gathering some twigs we can use and I'll take care of the rest. Does that sound good?"

"Oh Sora," Mimi exhaled an appreciative breath. "You're a saint!"

Sora giggled, not used to being heaped with praise from her female peers before.

"Well come on then," she nudged Mimi along, leaving the five boys standing alone as they walked away.

Matt shrugged. "Guess we better get started. Come on, TK."

The blonde-headed brothers walked off while Joe went off to do his section of the chores, leaving Tai and Izzy as the only ones left. Izzy was typing away on his computer, obviously finding much more interest in that than doing chores, while Tai just walked away without a word. It was at that moment that Tai realized just what a beautiful day it was; too beautiful to be spent doing boring chores and laboring in the intense humidity.

"Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day," he hummed to himself as he strolled through the forest until he found a tree that looked high enough that no one would notice him slacking off of his chores. Like Spider Man crawling up a building, Tai scaled the tree until he reached the sturdiest branch. With his hands behind his head, he reclined back on the branch and began to doze off.

* * *

( **A/N: Here is where things become more familiar.)**

A sudden chill hitting his face woke Tai up.

Bolting upright in a flash, he looked around to try and find what it was that had touched his face. Maybe he was imagining things.

' _No way,'_ he thought. ' _That's impossible. It's the end of July for crying out loud.'_

Just as he thought that, a flash of white floated in front of his face….then another.…then another until a full-blown blizzard was in effect. The wind tossed his gravity-defying hair in all directions as he ran to find shelter from the howling wind and falling snow.

"What is going on here?!" he demanded to no one in particular as he raised his arm to his face to try and shield it from the snowflakes smacking into his face. To help better the situation, he pulled his aviator goggles from the headband on his forehead to help keep the snow out of his eyes.

It was not long before he found refuge in a nearby shrine. Closing the door behind him, he pushed the goggles back into their place on his headband and wiped off some of the melted snowflakes on his exposed arms and legs. Looking up from that, he quickly noticed that his group had thought of the same idea as he did because the six others too sought refuge in the shrine.

"You too, huh?" Sora had to almost shout over the howling wind outside in order to ask him.

"Yeah," he nodded. "You guys ok?"

"If it weren't for this snow, I'd feel a heck of a lot better," Matt grumbled, folding his arms across his chest.

Eventually the snowstorm passed. An eerie silence fell over the shrine as no one knew what to do at that moment. Finally, Tai opened the door slightly to look out onto the landscape. The sight of snow and grey skies seemed incompatible to what the typical look of summer should be.

"Looks like no canoe races for us this afternoon," Joe sighed.

"So let's have toboggan races instead," Tai suggested as he ran out into the snow.

TK soon followed with a cheerful laugh.

"I'm gonna build the biggest snowman!" the young boy declared happily.

"TK, be careful," said Matt, following his brother step for step. "Slow down."

As soon as the cold air touched her exposed skin, Sora immediately wrapped her arms around her torso in reaction as goose bumps made their way up her arms.

"Brrr! It's freezing!" she shivered as she made her way outside. "And I didn't even bring a jacket. Didn't think I was going to need one in the first place but oh well."

"Man! And here I was afraid I was going to catch a summer cold," Joe complained as he looked at the frozen landscape, pushing his glasses up his nose. "But this is even worse."

Shoving him aside, Mimi gaped in awe as she saw the freshly fallen snow.

"Why didn't I pack my fluffy pink snow boots?" she cried in excitement as she joined TK in piling up a large snowball for his snowman.

Joe tilted his head back and let out a loud groan before joining the other kids. He didn't want to come to camp at all this summer either but his mother insisted that he find "something fun to do" rather than just stay in cram school all summer. He had relented, thinking that something good could come out of it, but now he was wishing he hadn't.

Izzy groaned as his infrared Internet connection failed to connect. It had to be the snow interfering with the signal because his modem could normally find one in even the most isolated of places. The young computer expert knew more about computers than even those twice his age. Looking at his mobile phone, he was met with the same results: no signal.

"Bummer," he muttered.

"Hey, what's-your-name…Izzy. Come out here! You've gotta see this!" Tai's voice called to him.

Realizing his electronics were useless at the moment, Izzy decided that he may as well go out and see what the excitement was about. Looking up in the sky, lights danced in a display that the children had never seen before except on video.

While the sight before them amazed everyone else, Izzy was simply perplexed. How could something like this even happen in Japan? It didn't make any sense.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Maybe an aurora," replied Sora with a far-off tone.

"You mean the Aurora Borealis?" he replied incredulously. "The Northern Lights? That's impossible. You see that up in Alaska but we are way too far south."

She scoffed. "Tell that to the snow."

"I think we should all probably get back inside before we come down with pneumonia," Joe suggested, not feeling good about the situation at all.

"And miss this?" Matt replied. "The sky is like short-circuiting right now."

Upon closer examination, Tai could see that something was happening behind the light display. The sound of thunder reached their ears but before they could wonder if rain was coming too to rub more salt in the wound, so to speak, Tai saw a green vortex forming behind the aurora.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, not knowing what was going on at that moment. Feeling the fear rise up in his stomach, he saw something break free from the vortex and split apart into seven pieces. It could have been meteorites. That seemed like the logical explanation but the seven pieces of this "meteor" started falling towards them.

"Incoming!" Tai cried as everyone hit the dirt ( **no pun intended** ) before the falling objects collided with the ground, sending snow two feet into the air and covering the kids in it when it came back down.

Sora immediately stood up. "Everyone, are you alright?" she demanded, wanting to make sure that no one was hurt.

"I'm good," replied Tai, dusting off some snow.

"We're still here," said Matt, clutching TK close to him.

"That was scary," Mimi almost laughed after being frightened.

Joe had never felt so embarrassed in his life. The sound from the impact of the objects meeting the ground had frightened him so much that he felt a warmth run down his leg. He had peed his pants! Thankfully everyone else was too preoccupied with what had just happened to look at him.

"What was it?" he said, trying to deflect some of his embarrassment.

"Meteors?" Izzy suggested as the holes in the ground began to glow.

Seven long metal objects, at least nine to ten inches long, floated out of the ground. The glowing effect ended when the children grabbed one in their hands. Once their hands grasped the objects, another glowing sensation made its presence known: this time on their arms.

Tai looked down to see a symbol that looked like a sun had appeared on his arm.

"What are these?" he asked the obvious question, twirling the metal object in his hand to inspect it closely. It had the resemblance of a sword but there was no blade. Instead there were just buttons on it and a metal ring at the bottom, presumably to attach itself to their waists.

Joe saw the symbol on his arm, a crucifix with arrows pointed out of each corner, and instantly groaned. "My folks are gonna kill me when they find out I got a tattoo," he complained.

"I'm not even sure they are tattoos," replied Sora, who was inspecting her symbol: a heart.

"Then what are they?"

"I'm not so concerned about what these symbols are," said Izzy, inspecting the "sword" in his hand. "I'm more concerned about what the metal things are."

Before anyone else could say anything, an enormous wave of water jetted up to the sky. As if a magnetic force was acting on them, the kids were sucked into the wave one at a time.

"I knew I should have gone to Disney instead!" TK cried as he was pulled in.

* * *

 **A cliffhanger ending. Wonder what is going to happen next. I was not sure exactly what it was that TK had said when they got sucked in so I just added in what I thought he would say at the end there. Hope you all enjoyed this first chapter. I think it kind of set the story a little bit better in terms of first impressions on the kids and such than we ultimately got but that is just my opinion.**

 **The symbols on their arms...I'm sure you can guess what those are without me telling you. They will be of great significance as the story goes on.**

 **I combined some elements of the novelization of the series, which can be found online if you are interested, in the beginning and then merging with the canon of the series at the end there. The tune that Tai was singing to himself was "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" from the musical "** _ **Oklahoma!"**_ **so the credit goes to Rodgers and Hammerstein for that wonderful tune.**

 **Be back soon for more. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you go along. Chao!**


	2. And So It Begins Pt 2

**Happy Sunday morning (or Monday depending on your side of the international date line). I know I'm feeling "easy like Sunday morning" today. Back again with part 2 of chapter one. I decided to break up the first episode into two chapters because it just seemed to flow better that way. Hope you guys like it.**

* * *

 _The Dark Castle_

 _In a Dark Corner of the Digital World_

In the dark dungeon of a castle, where no light could come through even though there was no light outside to be found outside, a figure with pale skin and blonde hair sat in a meditative position. A red mask stretched across his eyes and a black cloak surrounded his body.

Suddenly, the figure's eyes snapped open. He had felt a great disturbance in the Force. His mouth opened to reveal two sets of fangs on both the bottom and top of his mouth as he spoke.

"They're here," he hissed, his voice barely above a whisper. "They've come."

"My lord," a new voice cried from a crystal ball. "Just as you have feared, the Destined Jedi have appeared."

The vampire narrowed his gaze as he gazed into it, looking at the figure. "I know they have, Devimon," he hissed once again. "I felt it. This turn of events is unfortunate. We must accelerate our plans. Begin deploying the Dark Gears. We will find the Destined Jedi and kill them before they can be trained."

"Yes, my lord," said the dark figure before flying out of the room. "Right away."

* * *

 _Jungle_

 _File Island, Digital World_

"Tai, you ok?"

Tai's eyes fluttered as he began to open them. Though he had hit the ground rather hard, his head did not hurt like he thought it would. It was certainly odd to say the least but he was just glad to be ok.

"Yeah, I'm ok, Mom," he muttered, thinking that it was just a dream…until he saw Izzy's face staring down at him. "Izzy?"

"Yeah, it's me," the younger boy nodded. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Tai nodded as he began to sit up, rubbing the back of his head. "Where's everybody else?"

"Not sure," replied Izzy. "Maybe all scattered around. We'll find them."

After getting his bearings together, Tai finally got a chance to check out their surroundings. They certainly were not at the site of the shrine anymore; rather they were in a dense forest, possibly a jungle, with no snow in sight. The trees rose high above their heads, almost to the sky, and the underbrush was so thick that it was almost impossible to see what lay behind it.

"Where are we?" he asked, looking around. "Something tells me that we are not in Kansas anymore, Toto."

"It would appear that we are in a jungle of some kind. I don't remember anything like this in the camp brochure," replied Izzy. "The vegetation is lush but the soil appears rather common."

"That's not what I meant, brainiac," Tai snapped. "I mean where are we as in what place we are in."

"You have a fair point," Izzy conceded. "I'm not entirely sure about that."

"Guess I'll just have to take a look for myself."

Spotting a tall tree, Tai made his way over to it and began to climb up until he reached a branch that hung high above the thick jungle. He grabbed his mini telescope out of his pocket and began looking for any sights that looked familiar.

"Hm. Let's see now," he muttered in concentration as he turned his telescope to the left. "The ocean? That can't be. Our campsite was nowhere near the ocean." Turning his telescope to the right, he saw a range of mountains a fair enough distance away from them. "I don't remember those mountains either. Dunno if a compass is going to help much here."

"Hey, Tai," Izzy called from down below. "What do you see?"

"Nothing that I recognize," replied Tai. "We are definitely not in Kansas anymore, Izzy."

"Enough with the Wizard of Oz jokes! Do you see anybody else?"

"Give me a second."

As Tai went to look, something flew into his line of sight. Taking a closer look, he saw a giant red beetle, bigger than any he had ever seen before, flying towards him with the intent to kill.

"Uh, Izzy," he said nervously. "I think I'm about to become bug food right now."

Just as he said that, the red beetle came in hot. Hugging his legs to the branch underneath him, Tai dropped his upper body back so that he was hanging upside down as the beetle tore off the top of the tree completely. His body shook from the adrenaline rush as he sat back up on the branch.

' _Who needs a gardener with that thing?'_ Tai laughed to himself as the insect came around for another run. Unsure of what to do, he decided the next best thing was just to jump but he had to be a good ten feet above the ground. He could get injured from a jump like that.

' _Well it's either that or become bug food,'_ he thought as the beetle got closer and closer. It was not until the last possible second that Tai decided to jump. Just as the beetle took out the branch, Tai leapt five feet into the air…and kept going and going. It was starting to freak him out.

"How did I do that?" he asked himself as he drifted to the ground before landing with a soft thud rather than a crash like he had anticipated.

"Tai, how did you do that?" Izzy asked, moving quickly towards him. "Are you ok?"

"Well I've certainly had better days than this," replied Tai sharply. "I'm starting to scare myself a little bit. First a can drifts to my hand and all of a sudden I can jump like a kangaroo."

A shrill cry from above alerted the two boys to the fact that the beetle was not going away any time soon.

"We better get out of here, stat!" Tai suggested.

Izzy nodded in agreement as the two took off running for safety from the beetle. For someone who was not used to exercise, let alone running, he managed to keep up with Tai pretty well. Suddenly the two felt as though the world was passing by them in a burst of speed, like one of those revolving screens in the old movies.

"How are we doing this?" Izzy cried, never realizing he had this kind of speed in him before.

"I don't know," replied Tai. "But hopefully we can find somewhere to hide."

" _Hide in a tree,"_ said a voice inside of Tai's mind. _"There's a hiding tree not too far away from your position. Go to it."_

' _Who said that?'_ Tai thought to himself, wondering whether he was dreaming after all. _'Who are you? Where are you?'_

" _Go now!"_

"Ok," he said hesitantly.

"Say something, Tai?" Izzy asked as the two slowed down from their burst of speed. The young computer expert grabbed his knees in exhaustion as it finally caught up to him.

"Something tells me that a hiding tree is nearby, whatever that is." Tai said as he began scouting the area for a tree that looked like a hiding tree. He had never heard of one before so he didn't know where to begin.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast! He's coming!"

Tai knew that. He could hear the sound of bark being torn away and the rustling of leaves behind them. Finding a tree that looked almost transparent, Tai grabbed Izzy by the arm and led him into the tree.

"Stay low and keep quiet," he whispered to Izzy as the two waited things out.

They could hear the beetle's loud cries, sounding almost like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park, as they got closer and closer to them. Izzy cowered in fear, wondering if he would survive this moment.

' _Why did I let my parents convince me to go to camp?'_ he cursed. _'I should have known something like this was going to happen. Why does this always happen to me?'_

Tai on the other hand sat in a meditative position and focused on staying calm. He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. Once he did, he felt everything in the jungle speak to him: the plants, living things; the entire island. It was almost like they were trying to tell him something.

"All clear," a familiar female voice announced from outside the tree. "You don't have to hide anymore."

Tai and Izzy both stood up and hesitantly took a peek outside of the tree to see Sora standing before them, an amused look on her face.

"Sora," Tai smiled, breathing a sigh of relief as he saw a familiar face.

"You can come out now," she giggled.

"Uh, we were just thinking up a trap we were gonna set for that big bug," he chuckled nervously, trying to save whatever machismo that he could at the moment as he and Izzy stepped out of the tree. "Hey, Sora. You didn't happen to hear something, like say a voice, a little while ago, did you?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think so. Why?"

"Just curious," Tai shrugged.

' _That was weird. Maybe I'm just hearing things.'_ He quickly shook his head of the thought. _'No, I heard it. The voice was clear as day. The forest also seemed to speak to me, as if everything here is connected to a central life force or something.'_

"Never thought I would see the day that Tai Kamiya ran scared from something," Sora snickered.

"I wasn't," he retorted. "We were just thinking up a clever strategy. Right, Izzy?"

"You should have seen his face, Sora," Izzy chuckled. "He was so scared."

Tai's face turned beet red as the two redheads laughed at his expense. "I was not! Now that we've found you, Sora, let's try and find the others so we can figure this out."

Just as he said that, the sound of screaming reached their ears. It was a male voice that was screaming and the source of it sounded like it was getting closer to them. Leaves on a tree branch rustled as Joe came hurling towards them, screaming his head off like he had seen a ghost.

"Joe?" Tai called, hoping to calm the older boy down.

"Guys, help me!" Joe cried. "There's this…UMFFF!"

The three of them cringed as Joe hit a low-hanging tree branch without even seeing it and quickly collapsed to the ground. He pulled his hand away from his face only to see blood on it, which he knew came from his nose. Joe let loose an even louder scream before dropping back down to the ground. There were no signs of movement.

"Joe?" Tai quickly rushed over to him to make sure he was ok. "Joe, you ok?"

"Tai, is he ok?" Sora asked.

After evaluating Joe's condition, Tai concluded that he was alright. He had just fainted from the sight of the blood was all. Taking out a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped Joe's nose free of the blood that oozed down his nose so that it didn't get into his mouth.

"Yeah he's fine," he replied. "He just fainted."

Sora shrugged. "Ok. Just leave him there then."

"TK, slow down!"

Matt and TK soon emerged from the foliage and joined the group, thankfully unharmed. Matt's eyes quickly turned to the unconscious Joe.

"What happened to him?" he asked Tai.

"He fainted," was the goggle-headed boy's reply. "So now that we are basically all here, what do we do?"

"Hold on," said Sora, looking around and noticing that they were missing one other person. "We're missing someone. Where's Mimi?"

"Who?"

She gave Tai an admonishing look. "That girl with the pink hat."

Tai's eyes brightened in realization. "Oh, her. I don't know where she is."

"Maybe she's picking flowers," suggested Izzy. "Or going on a nature hike."

Another scream reached their ears for what seemed like the thousandth time that day.

"HELP!"

"Mimi!" Tai cried, immediately running to the source of the scream. The others soon followed with Matt carrying Joe over his shoulder.

Matt felt something wet make contact with his bare shoulder as he struggled to keep up with the others and carry Joe at the same time. Stopping to look, Matt noticed a wet spot at the front of Joe's shorts and immediately knew what it was.

"OH DEAR GOD!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, dropping Joe unceremoniously to the ground with a thud. "Ewwww!"

"What's the matter, Matt?" Tai asked, wondering what it was that was getting Matt so worked up. "What's wrong?"

"Joe peed his pants!" Matt cried, wiping his shoulder vigorously. "And it got on my shoulder too!"

Sora had a hard time keeping her laughter down to a minimum while Tai busted a gut laughing at the blonde's misfortune.

"Ow. My head," groaned Joe as he started to come to after being dropped to the ground. Rubbing the back of his head, he wondered why everyone around him was staring. "What's going on? Why's everyone looking at me?" he demanded.

He then looked down to the front of his shorts and saw what they were looking at. His face exploded into a red color as he tried to cover his embarrassment.

"Matt, I am so sorry," he quickly apologized. "I forgot that happened."

"Why you…" Matt looked ready to punch Joe's lights out until the sound of running reached their ears, accompanied by the screaming that they had grown accustomed to. Mimi soon came around the corner, screaming her head off as the red beetle from earlier followed above her.

"Oh no," Tai groaned once he caught sight of it. "Not again!"

The beetle dove down for an attack but they all ducked down before it could get a piece of them. Sora ran up to Mimi to make sure that she was alright.

"Mimi, are you ok?"

"Oh, Sora," Mimi breathed a sigh of relief as she clung to the older girl. "Yeah, I think so."

Sora smiled warmly. "Don't worry. It'll be alright."

"Ok, now that we are all back together, let's GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE!" Joe screamed as the beetle let out a cry to let them know that it was not going away anytime soon. They all took off running into the jungle, hearing the sounds of broken bark and tree branches hitting the ground.

' _What do we do? What do we do? What do we do?'_ Tai asked himself as he struggled to come up with a plan. He had been in many tight situations in his life but none of them could have even prepared him for what he was facing now. It was hopeless.

"My mom is going to want a total refund over this!" Joe cried as they continued running. "Why did I let her convince me to come to camp in the first place? I should have stayed at school all summer."

"Joe, that's enough!" Matt growled. "Are you finished complaining yet?"

"Look out!" TK cried as the beetle swooped down for another attack. They all hit the ground once again to take cover.

Tai was getting tired of running and hiding. It was time for some action.

"All right, that's it. No more running away," he proclaimed, his fingers taking hold of the sword hanging on his belt.

Sora looked at him as though he was crazy. "What can we do?" she asked incredulously.

"She's right," Matt nodded in agreement, holding TK close to him for protection. "There's no way we can fight that thing and win. It's hopeless."

Tai growled in defiance. "There has to be a way."

Hearing the sound of wings flapping caused the group to continue running deeper into the jungle. They hoped there would possibly a river, or even a hidden path, that would provide them shelter from the beetle.

Emerging from the trees, they found themselves staring at the edge of a cliff with no way down.

"Great," Matt rolled his eyes. "Did anyone bring a helicopter or something?"

Tai moved close to the edge so that he could see how far of a drop it could be. He did have his newfound jumping ability to rely on in terms of getting him down, but he was not sure about the others. Seeing how far down it was, he knew that there was no way they could get there safely.

"There's no way down," he reported sadly. "We're going to have to find another way."

"To where?!" Sora demanded. Tai could sense that her fear was starting to get the best of her at the moment.

A rush of wind hit Tai square in the chest as the beetle darted directly towards him, hoping to finally finish him off. For Tai, the whole moment seemed to move by in slow motion as he bent backwards until his back touched the ground before the beetle passed over him.

Before Tai could breath a sigh of relief, he heard Sora call out to him.

"Watch out, Tai!"

He turned to see the beetle making its way back to him for another attack. He stood his ground this time, however. Something inside of him told him to concentrate and use the "power within him" to get rid of the bug. The sun on his right arm started to glow a bright orange as he extended his gloved hand out.

The rest of the kids were stunned as the beetle stopped moving, almost like it was frozen. Tai kept his concentration and with one gesture of his hand, the beetle was sent flying into the trees with a resounding crash. Everyone was finally given a moment to breathe, thinking that they had finally won this time.

"Whoa, Tai," TK cried, fascinated by what he had just seen. "How did you do that?"

"I have no idea," was the reply. Tai kept looking at his hand in shock, wondering just how he had managed to pull that off. _'Just like with the can,'_ he remembered.

Before they could celebrate any more, the beetle's cry came even louder than before as it got up from the group of trees that it had landed on.

"Does this guy ever give up?!" Tai gritted his teeth in frustration. Simple magic tricks were not going to put this damned thing away.

"Tai, we have to find a way out of here," said Sora, hoping to convince him to give up the fight while they still had the chance. "Give it up."

The beetle chopped its pincers threateningly, ready to make them its lunch. Tai narrowed his eyebrows as he could sense exactly what it was planning to do. He knew that the only way out of this was to fight. There was no getting around it.

He felt his fingers grasp the grip of the sword, which caused an idea to come to his mind.

"Let's see what these things can do," he said, taking it off of his belt and holding it in his hand. He then ran towards the beast with a determined look on his face.

"Tai, are you crazy?!" Sora cried after him.

"It's suicidal, man!" Matt called as well.

Tai couldn't hear them due to the amount of blood that was pumping in his ears. If he was going to go down, he was going to go down fighting. The beetle seemed to understand what he was thinking because its wings began flapping in preparation to launch an attack. Tai held the sword in both hands, trying to figure out what button on it would unleash the blade within it. He knew there had to be one. If not, he would be bug food in a second.

"Here goes nothing," he muttered between gritted teeth as he pressed a button in the middle with his thumb.

A piercing ignition sounded through the air, followed by a hum. Tai's eyes went wide as he stared at the sword, a blade of blue energy now glowing out of the top end. It instantly hit him that he knew what it was.

"No way!" he cried, a wide smile stretching across his face. "A real life lightsaber? This is so cool!"

A cry from the beetle unfortunately ruined the moment but Tai was not going to back down anymore now that he knew the swords were lightsabers. Taking a stance that he had seen from the movies, he prepared to attack with a look of confidence.

"Alright, you big ugly bug," he said while holding the blade close, the blue light illuminating the right side of his face. "Let's dance."

As the beetle came in for a strike, Tai sidestepped it and swung his lightsaber for one of its limbs, managing to cut off part of its arm. It roared in pain as Tai started to get more confident in his striking abilities. He leapt up onto the creature's back and started swinging away, causing maximum damage, so much that it fell to the ground. Tai finally plunged his lightsaber into its back once it hit the ground.

Tai heaved in exhaustion as he looked at the unmoving creature, retracting his lightsaber blade with a 'zip'. He thought it was dead so he decided it would be ok to move away. Everyone else quickly mobbed him.

"Whoa, Tai. That was amazing!" Matt cried.

"Does this mean we all have lightsabers too?" TK asked, bouncing so much that Tai was afraid the little boy would pee himself in excitement.

"That was reckless what you did there," said Sora, a proud smile on her face as she looked at him. "But I'm glad you did it."

Tai chuckled nervously. "Thanks, Sora."

A cracking sound reverberated through the entire cliff. The ground started to shake as well, causing the kids to try and keep their balance. Having lived through several earthquakes throughout their lives, they didn't think they had a reason to fear what was going on…until they saw the ground begin to break apart.

"This doesn't look good!" Joe cried as the ground beneath them gave way, sending them plummeting towards the river below.

* * *

 **Oh boy. This does not look good for the kids. Is this the end already? What will happen next? Find out next time.**

 **What a lot to digest in this chapter. Who is that shadowy figure in the beginning? What was the mystery voice speaking to Tai? And poor Joe just cannot catch a break right now XD**

 **Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and are all as excited for what will come next as I am. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read because it lets me know just how much you appreciate this story. See you guys next time.**


	3. Run-In With Shellmon

**Here I am again with chapter 3. This story is just writing itself right now that my fingers are hijacked. Help! Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

The rush of the wind blew Tai's hair in a thousand different directions as he and the others continued to fall from the cliff above. For a brief moment, he felt as if this would be his last moment alive. Thoughts of his parents, of Kari, and of his friends, however, kept him from submitting to what he felt was inevitable.

Using his heightened reflexes, he tucked into a pike position just as he and others hit the water with a roaring splash. Water filled his ears as the wash from the impact surged up to the surface, the current swiftly carrying him and the others along downriver. After struggling for a few seconds, Tai made his way up to the surface and took a large inhale of air once he did.

"Guys?" he called out, looking around to see others resurface. "Are you all ok?"

Sora raised her hand. "I'm okay," she called back as a small wave blasted her in the face, pushing her under.

Tai looked behind him to see Matt urge TK to grab onto him, which the younger boy did by wrapping his arms around his brother's neck. After what had been a minute but felt like hours to the kids, the river settled down. Drifting further along, they saw a landing to their left and quickly swam towards the shore.

Plopping down onto the dirt-covered ground, Tai heaved to gather air back into his lungs. His young heart pounded from a combination of the adrenaline from the fall, the physical toll that swimming had taken, and the oxygen trying to surge through him.

"Is everyone alright?" he called, turning onto his back.

"Yeah we're good," replied Matt as he carried TK away from the river.

"I'm ok," said Izzy, lamenting the fact that his laptop got soaked.

Everyone else called back in the affirmative as well, which brought relief to Tai. Now with that episode over, it was time to figure out where they were. They must have traveled almost a mile downriver so there would be no way of knowing which way they were supposed to take to get back.

' _Well at least that beetle won't be coming after us anymore,'_ he thought.

Tai felt a surge of energy as he looked at a seething Joe. Pure, unadulterated anger.

"Great," the boy raged, his face red as a tomato. "Just perfect. First we end up in an unknown place and then we find a giant bug that wants to kill us and now here we are stuck in the middle of nowhere! Can this day get any worse?"

He kicked a small stone towards the base of a tree in anger. So much force was behind the kick that the stone bounced back and hit Joe square on the forehead, sending him falling to the ground.

"It just got worse," he groaned, gritting his teeth as he rubbed his throbbing forehead. "Ow."

"Calm yourself, Joe," said Sora. "Let's just take a moment to relax and take a deep breath. Maybe that will help us all feel better."

With a deep inhale through his nose, Tai let it out with a long exhale. He felt better almost instantly, his mind clear and cognizant. Everyone else copied him and they too felt peace flow through them.

Matt was the first to speak up. "Now that that is out of the way, what are we gonna do now?"

"Maybe if there was a pay phone nearby," suggested Joe. "We could call the police, fire department, or my mom."

"We don't even know where we are, Joe," Tai retorted. "Do you honestly think we're going to find a pay phone in a place like this?"

"It's worth a try," the older boy insisted. "Do you have any ideas, Tai?"

Tai huffed in amusement. "You've got me."

"That's what I thought! It's worth taking a chance on."

"Hold on," Sora jumped into the conversation. She pointed towards the mountain that they had fallen from. "Maybe we should try going back up to where we started."

"I don't think so," Matt shook his head. "We should take our chances searching around here. Besides, who knows if we can even get back up there."

"I'm not exploring anywhere!" Joe complained.

While they all threw out ideas and argued, something seemed to nag at the back of Tai's mind. He could feel a surge of energy coming from the direction to their right. Sitting down in a lotus position, he closed his eyes to focus on the energy. He had seen Star Wars enough to know that Jedi used meditation to focus more clearly so he decided to try it. As he focused more intently, he saw a vision of the sea.

Opening his eyes, he knew what to do next.

"It's this way," he cried, getting up to walk.

"Where are you going, Tai?" Sora asked, perplexed at what he was doing.

"To the ocean," he replied. "We're not too far from it. Maybe we can find a way home once we get there."

"And how do you know this?" Joe asked incredulously.

Tai gave his famous Tai Kamiya smile before replying, "Call it a hunch."

"That isn't very reassuring," Joe muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I say we should find a cave and wait for a camp counselor to…"

He quickly realized that no one else was listening, rather they were all following Tai. Not wanting to be left behind, Joe quickly followed them.

"Hey, guys!" he cried. "Wait up! Don't leave me alone!"

* * *

Tai wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and adjusted his headband as the humidity began getting to him. They didn't have any water with them that he knew of so there wasn't a way for them to quench their thirst.

' _Now I know how the American GI's felt in Vietnam,'_ he chuckled. _'Unfamiliar territory, endless jungle, and murderous humidity. All that's missing is the Viet Cong.'_

"This is going to make one hell of a story when we get home, eh guys?"

"Yeah, like anyone would believe it," replied Matt with a roll of his eyes, causing Tai to frown. Sometimes he just did not understand Matt at all.

At the back of the pack, Mimi complained about how her feet were hurting and that the humidity was causing her hair to get all frizzy to anyone who would listen. For a girl who never really did much walking outside of a mall, it was a complete culture shock.

After walking for a little longer, Tai noticed the river begin to open up. Knowing they were nearing the river delta, they all moved with an extra spring in their step as the ocean drew nearer. To make matters even stranger, the sound of a telephone ringing caught their ears.

"Is that what I think it is?" Tai asked, desperation permeating his voice as he hoped he wasn't hearing things. "Please tell me that this is not a mirage."

"If it's what I'm thinking of, then I think we're all on the same page," said Sora, matching his excitement.

Their quickened pace soon turned into a jog as they rounded the corner from where the river spilt into the ocean. A line of telephone booths came into their vision, causing their smiles to widen even more. One phone continued to ring endlessly. As strange as it seemed for there to be telephone booths on a beach, the kids could not care less at the moment.

"What did I tell you?!" Joe cried ecstatically. "All we needed was a phone. We're saved!"

Now in a full-blown sprint, they charged towards the phone booths. Maybe now was their big chance to call someone to come get them and go home.

Tai then stopped. Something did not feel right to him about this.

"Hold on a second, everybody," he said, causing them to stop in mid-stride. "I have a seriously bad feeling about this. Like maybe this could be a trap."

Joe looked at him like he had just sprouted a second head. "A trap?" he replied incredulously. "How can phone booths be a trap? This could be our chance to get out of here."

"I can't explain it but I feel as though we shouldn't do it."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to get us out of here so I'm willing to take that chance."

He ran directly for one of the booths and started dialing away.

"Does anyone else find it odd that there are booths on the beach?" Sora asked. "It doesn't sit right with me either."

"My theory is aliens," said Izzy. "I think they left these out as a trap."

Tai couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of the statement. "Yeah, ok. You watch too many sci-fi movies, kid."

Izzy huffed. "Then how do you explain that laser sword on your waist? Things like that only happen in science fiction so that wouldn't be too far-fetched."

"He's got a point there," Matt nodded, taking his saber off of his belt to take a closer look at it. "I thought I was imagining things after seeing Star Wars too many times. It's pretty whacked out if you think about it."

"So does that mean we're Jedi of some kind?" TK asked, letting it be known that he was still there.

"There's got to be a more logical explanation for this," Izzy shook his head. "There's no such thing as Jedi."

"Then how do you explain those weird powers we can use, Einstein?" Tai retorted.

Izzy pulled out his computer and set it down on the sand before taking his saber off his belt to examine it closely.

"If only I could take it apart," he began before a low growl made its presence known. Izzy blushed in embarrassment, knowing it was his stomach growling. "After I eat something, of course. I'm quite famished."

"Don't dodge the question," Tai pressed before his own stomach growled. He sighed in defeat. "Ok, so who's got something to eat?"

"Not me," said Sora, opening her fanny pack to show all she had. "I've got just basic first aid stuff."

Mimi and Matt shook their heads.

"Hey, wait a second," TK chimed in, taking his backpack off. He opened the bag to reveal an assortment of goodies and other junk food courtesy of his worried mother, who packed more than necessary so that he didn't go hungry at any point. "I've got some good stuff in here."

Everyone's mouths watered at the sight of all the snacks. If it wasn't for their human decency, they would have ravaged the bag like a pack of wolves.

Mimi in particular was wide-eyed with hunger.

"Now be a good little boy and share some of those treats with your sweet Mimi," she said sweetly, hoping to charm the eight-year-old boy into giving her something.

"You don't have to be so nice, Mimi," replied TK. "I'm happy to share."

Before anyone could dig in, Tai noticed the bag on Joe's shoulder.

"Look, guys," he said. "Joe's got the emergency food. Hey Joe!"

Joe, in all of his twelve years of life, had never encountered something as strange as he was facing now. None of the calls he had tried to make went through, rather he had gotten strange replies every time. This did not deter him as he was determined to find a way out of this precarious predicament they were in.

While waiting for his next call to go through, he turned at the call of his name.

"Hey! Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone when they're on the telephone?" he chastised. "I'm trying to get us out of here!"

"But you've got the food bag," replied Tai.

"I just brought it because it was Mimi's turn to carry the bag," Joe explained before finally giving up on the phones for the time being and returning to the group. "Mimi, you have got to start pulling your weight around here. Do something to help others rather than yourself for a change."

"But that bag's too heavy for me," she complained, causing Joe to get red in the face. He was almost at his wit's end with her.

"GRRRRRRR!" he growled, about ready to let her have it until Tai stepped in to stop him.

"Joe, take it easy," he said, grabbing his shoulders to try and calm him down. "The important thing is that we have food to eat. I'm sure once we all get something in our stomachs, we'll feel better."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Joe conceded. "Fine."

Setting the bag down on the ground, he opened it to separate all the food that they had been given. Fruits, vegetables, ramen noodles, carefully preserved pork, and other things that were essential to surviving in an emergency in the wilderness. The kids did their best to control themselves as it was all piled on a blanket.

"Ok," said Joe. "So there is seven of us, times three meals, times three days leaves us with…"

"Sixty-three meals," Izzy calculated.

"Uh yeah, which is…"

"Enough food for three days."

' _Leave it to the computer genius to know everything,'_ Joe thought with a roll of his eyes. "Basically, yeah. That means we need to be smart about how much food we are consuming from this bag. We'll have to ration it."

Just as he said that, Tai was already chewing away on some crackers and enjoying himself. Joe's eyes grew so wide with anger that they almost knocked his glasses off his face.

"What in Sam Hill are you doing?!" he roared.

Tai looked at him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm hungry," he said before rolling his eyes. "Boy, I'm sure glad we don't hear you complaining about anything."

Joe's entire body shook with anger as he finally decided to give up the fight, knowing it was useless.

"You people drive me crazy," he huffed, folding his arms across his chest.

Sora sat down beside him as everyone else got up to grab some food to eat.

"Hey, Joe," she smiled warmly, hoping to put him at ease with her presence. "Have any luck with the phones?"

Running his hand through his hair to push it back from his eyes, he gave a sad sigh. "No. I kept getting these weird messages but that doesn't mean I'm not going to try again. It may just be a wrong number."

Just as everyone else settled in, Tai felt something approach them. Maybe it was his Jedi instincts telling him that danger was near. Not wanting to take a chance, he got up and ran towards the water.

"Tai, where are you going?" Sora called after him.

"I sense something," he replied back. "It doesn't feel good to me."

Suddenly water popped out of the ground like a geyser, making its way towards the kids. Eventually the spouts of water sent every telephone booth into the sky and come crashing down, much to Joe's dismay. Tai activated his lightsaber as he prepared himself for whatever was going to come out of the ground.

' _Alright, whatever you are,'_ he thought, his eyes narrowing in concentration. _'Come out and fight me. I'm not afraid of you.'_

He soon got his wish as a giant shellfish emerged from the sand. Its pink body came out of the shell with a loud cry and its eyes were set straight on Tai, causing the boy to step back.

"Ok, maybe just a little," he sweat-dropped.

The shellfish began spraying water from its head towards anything that moved. Joe tried climbing up the cliff wall near them but got sprayed when he was nearing the top, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

While Matt and Sora checked on Joe's condition, considering it had been the third time that day he had hit his head on something, Tai tried figuring out a plan of attack.

' _What do I do?'_ he thought. _'I can't beat him like this. He's too big.'_

His eyes widened as a stream of water came straight for him. He quickly dove to get out of the way at the last second. The stream of water hit the other kids instead, drenching them all in water. Without a second of hesitation, Tai leapt from the ground towards the shell. Reactivating his lightsaber, he was ready to strike but one of the long yellow tentacles that could be considered its "hair" grabbed him. Tai dropped his lightsaber as the tentacle squeezed his torso tightly, threatening to cut off his air supply.

"Hang on, Tai," yelled Sora. "We're coming."

But no one else knew what to do. They weren't sure how to use their Force powers at will like how Tai was able to so they were rendered useless. Meanwhile, Tai was finding it extremely hard to breath as the shellfish fired another stream of water towards the kids.

' _If only I could…just reach my…lightsaber,'_ he thought, which sparked something. Looking down, he saw it lying on the ground. Remembering how Luke Skywalker called his lightsaber in the wampa cave in _Empire Strikes Back,_ Tai flexed his hand as he focused.

Down below, the sword started to shake, which caused Tai to concentrate even harder as his face started to turn blue from the lack of oxygen. The saber launched up to Tai's hand and was activated in a flash. He quickly cut off the tentacle that held him. The shellfish roared in pain as Tai landed safely on the ground.

"Alright, enough fooling around," he gritted his teeth as he tried to slow his breathing and draw out what strength he had left inside to fight. "Time to get rid of you for good."

Closing his eyes so he could concentrate better, Tai lifted his hand. The sun symbol on his arm glowed orange as the crustacean was lifted into the air. It gave a cry of discomfort as it rose higher and higher but Tai showed no signs of stopping.

Once he felt that it was at an appropriate height, Tai opened his eyes and began to channel even more energy. The bright orange light coming from the symbol on his arm was almost blinding now so he released the built up energy towards the monster. It was sent flying towards the horizon before finally landing in the ocean with a giant splash that sent water almost three feet into the air.

Having used so much energy, Tai fell on his butt before lying back on the sand to catch his breath. The combination of adrenaline from his near-death experience and his physical exhaustion really drained him of his energy.

Sora and Matt were by his side in an instant.

"Tai, are you ok?" asked Sora.

"Yeah, man. You alright? You scared us there for a second." Matt echoed.

Tai smiled weakly at them as he found the strength to raise his head slightly.

"You guys got any food that I can eat?" he asked, causing them both to start laughing. If all he cared about was food, then they knew he was all right.

* * *

"Come on. I know you're there," said Joe as he tried in vain to use a phone again. "Operator? OPERATOR!" he yelled into the receiver, hoping to get an answer.

A fair distance away, everyone watched with amused smiles on their faces.

"So who wants to break the bad news to Joe?" Matt asked.

"I may as well," Tai stepped forward. "Hey, Joe! Give it up already. We've got to come up with a new plan."

Realizing that Tai was right, no matter how much it hurt him to admit it, Joe put the phone down and walked back towards the group, slouching over in anguish that nothing worked.

"Can this day get any worse?" he moaned as Tai began going over a new plan.

"The shellfish was not destroyed, Tai," Izzy reminded him. "He was merely removed, which means we better get out of here before he comes back for round two."

"You're right," Tai nodded. "But where do we go?"

"I say we make our way back into the forest," Joe suggested. "If anyone is looking for us, then that is the first place that they will look."

"Joe, we fell off a cliff," Sora said with a roll of her eyes. "We're going to have a tough time getting back there unless you can find another way for us to do it."

The boy raised his hands defensively. "It was just a suggestion."

Izzy then spoke up. "Joe, logically speaking, if there are telephones here then there must be people around to use them. The most reasonable thing would be to try and find these people."

Tai nodded in agreement. "He's right. It's either that or wait for that monster to come back and make us his dinner. All in favor of leaving?"

Almost everyone raised his or her hands immediately. Joe was the only one who abstained but after feeling everyone glare at him, he reluctantly raised it.

"Good," Tai smiled. "Let's get moving."

After gathering their gear, the group of kids made their way back into the forest. No matter what it took, they were going to find a way back home.

* * *

 **What adventures await our young heroes? Be sure to find out next time.**

 **I know the start has been very Tai-centric so far but starting next chapter, everyone else gets their moment to shine just like in the show. Next up is Matt. The symbols on their arms will be explained in the coming chapters so be patient with that. The Digimon, with a few exceptions, will go unnamed because they are considered wild animals in this story.**

 **Be sure to review and subscribe as you read because this story is about to get exciting. I know it's been a little boring to start but stay with me. It's going to get good. I promise. See you all soon.**


	4. The Jedi of Friendship

**Welcome, everyone, to** **chapter four of Destined Jedi. Sorry for the longer wait but I promise it will be well worth it. I took some time to put all my attention on school with final exams coming up this week, which means it is almost summer vacation! I can devote way more time to writing this story because of that fact.**

 **Time to answer the reviews you all left in the last chapter. I'll be doing this for every chapter from this point forward so be sure to review and I will give you a shout out in each chapter you review.**

 **Emperor Serperior: Thank you for your review. To answer your questions, things will start to deviate very soon. I planned on starting the same before deviating away from it. You'll see it soon. For question number two, I'll certainly have to think about it but right now I am focused on this trilogy. It's a great idea and there are certainly some things that can work. We shall have to see.**

 **Guest: It pains me to say this but unfortunately no. Romance is not a central theme here and I don't want pairings to distract from the story I am trying to tell. While I am certainly a big fan of Tai and Sora getting together, it won't happen in this story. Sorry :-(**

 **Anyway, enough rambling. Let's get to the story!**

* * *

Tai's aching feet screamed in protest as he continued to walk along the forest path. Even while his feet disagreed, his brain told him that they should keep going while they still had daylight. The group had been walking all day and still had not found any traces of human settlements. The only thing they had found were two rhinoceros-like creatures fighting over territory. The kids had gotten caught in the middle of the battle but were able to escape before any harm could be done.

A few paces behind him, Mimi felt like she was going to drop to the ground and die. Her feet hurt so much that she feared they would fall off if she kept going.

"I never walk this much unless I'm at a mall," she complained loudly. "As you can see, we're nowhere near one!"

Tai growled in annoyance. "Mimi, stop complaining. What are you gonna do, call a taxi?"

"That would be better than all this walking we have been doing," she continued, her shoulders hunched over. "My feet hurt."

"Just pretend that you're getting a foot massage or something," Tai replied carelessly. "Maybe that will shut you up for the next while. We're going until we find some form of civilization."

Just as he said that, the others gasped as they saw wrong way road signs pop up amongst the foliage. It was certainly an odd sight since there was no pavement or cars anywhere on the island.

The sky started turning magenta and pink as the sun began to set. Compared to a normal sunset back in Japan, this one seemed odd to the kids for the sun was not setting the way it was supposed to.

"What a weird sunset," said Sora.

"Everything about this place is weird," echoed Izzy. "I say that we should find a place to camp out for the night. Who knows what comes out during that time."

Matt, while carrying TK on his back, had heard enough complaining from everyone. All day long he was either listening to Mimi or Joe complaining underneath their breath or Izzy saying something about this island not making sense. It was driving him crazy.

"I say we keep moving forward and stop all this complaining," he said, weariness clear on his expression. "Safety should be our top priority here so we shouldn't look to camp anywhere."

"You've got a point there, Matt," Tai smiled, happy that someone agreed with his plan to keep moving forward.

The small boy on Matt's back gave a small yawn. "Matt, I'm hungry."

Matt sighed. "You sure you can't hold out a little longer, squirt?" he asked, a little annoyed that TK would make that kind of a request right now. "I don't think it's safe to make camp for the night."

The loud rumbling of the boy's stomach gave Matt his answer.

"Alright, we'll get you something to eat," he bent down so that TK could dismount from him with a roll of his eyes. "Looks like we'll probably have to stop and rest for the night," he told the group. "I don't want TK to be up so late."

Tai gave a sigh in understanding before he spoke. "Ok. Let's start looking for a place to set up camp and get ourselves some food."

* * *

It was not much longer before the kids found a small lake in the middle of the forest that looked like it would be a good place to stop and rest for the night. After setting up camp for the evening, their eyes came upon a most peculiar sight: a trolley car sat in the middle of a rock. How it got there was anyone's guess but the kids did not want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Mimi dashed for the trolley as if her life depended on it, Tai and the others soon followed.

"Mimi, wait up!" Tai cried. "Remember those telephone booths? This could be another trap."

"I don't care!" she called back. "If it means any kind of luxury I'm willing to take that chance."

Ripping the door open, she barged in. Immediately her visions of grandeur were brought down to earth: all that the trolley had were benches on the side but not much else that would be useful. Mimi was so caught up in her disappointment that she didn't notice the others pooling up behind her.

"Doesn't look like there's much to it," said Sora with a sigh of disappointment. She too had hoped the trolley would yield something that could be beneficial to the group. "But at least it's a place where we can sleep tonight. Sure beats sleeping on the ground."

"That's true," Tai nodded.

Izzy moved past everybody else to go up to the front. It was like something up there had called to him; it was the most peculiar thing that the ten-year-old boy had ever felt in his life. When he got up there, he could see nothing but the lake, forest, and mountains in the distance. What could be calling to him?

"What's up, Izzy? You see something?" Tai called as everyone else started to make themselves at home on the seats.

"Not really," the boy shook his head. "Unless you count a nice view of the island as something."

The symbol on Izzy's arm glowed a faint purple as his hand went over what could be considered the glove compartment. Something in there may have been what was calling to him if it made the symbol start to glow. Without a second of hesitation, he opened it. Inside the compartment was a small piece of parchment that was folded over several times, almost like someone wanted them to find it.

' _How very peculiar,'_ he thought. _'What is something like this doing here? Maybe someone left it, which means there has to be people somewhere nearby.'_

Without stopping to unfold the parchment, he stuffed it into his shirt pocket to look at later before moving to the center of the car to rejoin the group. Tai looked at him like he knew Izzy was hiding something.

"Can we eat now?" TK asked, his stomach growling louder than before.

With a sharp breath in realization, Tai turned to the younger boy. "That's right, I forgot. Let's split into teams: catching fish, preparing the fire, and finding other things that we can eat. We've got a lot to do before dark."

* * *

After assigning groups, everybody split to fulfill the tasks that were asked of them. Izzy and TK were in charge of catching fish for dinner though Tai had to show them how to use the makeshift poles because they could not figure it out for the life of them. Tai dug the pit that they would use for the fire while Matt and Sora gathered firewood from the forest; Mimi and Joe were in charge of finding anything else that would be edible such as berries.

After gathering the wood, it just dawned on Tai that he did not know anything about making a fire. He looked at Matt and Sora for help but they both looked just as lost as he did.

"Anyone have a match?" he asked.

"No," they both replied with a shake of their heads.

Sora then got an idea.

"Hold on. I think I've got something," she said, bending down and taking a stick between her hands. She placed it on top of another piece of wood and started rubbing it between her palms. The boys watched in amazement as she continued rubbing the stick until the wood underneath started to smoke. Sora then blew on it, which led to the pile of smaller sticks being engulfed in flames.

"How did you do that?" Tai demanded.

She shrugged. "Saw it in a movie once. You guys can learn a thing or two from me."

Clapping them both on the shoulder, she walked into the forest to find some more wood to keep the fire going. By now the flames were starting to grow. TK and Izzy then came by with armfuls of fish, more than enough to feed them all and still plenty to keep for later.

Matt watched Tai try and figure out how to cook the fish with an amused expression. Right now he was just holding the fish by its tail over the fire. If Matt didn't do something, Tai could potentially burn his fingers off.

"You wanna lose your fingers, be my guest, but not on my watch," he said, putting the fish Tai was holding on a stick and stuck it in the sand in front of the fire. "Here, try this."

"How did you know that, Matt?"

"Have you ever roasted marshmallows before?"

Tai shook his head.

Matt chuckled. "There's a shocker. Letting it cook this way is much easier."

* * *

Soon everyone was sitting in front of the fire and plowed their way through the meal. It may not have been ideal to any of them compared to downhome cooking but desperate times called for desperate measures. Tai chowed down on the fish as if he hadn't eaten in days.

Matt looked at TK, who was sitting on his left. The young boy had not touched his food yet and was looking at it like he had never seen fish before.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Weren't you hungry?"

"Matt, Mom only lets me eat fish _sticks_ ," TK replied.

His older brother exhaled with a roll of his eyes. "Don't worry. I won't tell her anything."

"Haven't eaten with my fingers either."

"It's alright, TK!" Matt snapped.

Tai then stepped in to try and lighten things up.

"Yeah, you're hangin' with the big boys now, little man," he said with that cocky smile of his. Despite his demeanor, he couldn't help but be troubled at how Matt treated his younger sibling; it was almost like Matt thought of TK as a burden or a bother rather than someone who was his brother.

TK shrugged his shoulders and happily started chowing away at the meal in front of him. Tai spotted Sora washing a stick she had used to move the firewood in the river and immediately made his way over to her.

"Hey, Sora,"

"What's up?" she asked, looking up to see her best friend standing beside her.

"Matt doesn't treat TK like he's a brother," Tai observed, not keeping his eyes off the two blondes. "Only like he's a bother. What's up with that?"

"Matt's still learning how to be a big brother. They don't see each other all that often because their parents are split up." Sora then smiled at him. "Not everyone can have the same relationship you and Kari enjoy. Speaking of which, what happened with her?"

"She got sick early this morning," he replied as he sat down at the edge of the river. "Totally out of nowhere. I hope she's doing ok."

"She'll be fine. Once we get back home, she'll be there waiting for you."

Tai nodded in appreciation. " _If_ we ever get back home."

"That's weird."

The two friends turned to see Joe looking up at the sky, like he was trying to find something up there.

"What's the matter, Joe?" Sora asked.

"I can't find the North Star," he replied. "I've never seen constellations like these before."

"I'm not so sure these are the ones we're used to seeing," she nodded, looking up at the sky as well. "You guys sure we're still on Earth?"

"Did you try looking in the other direction?" Tai jumped in. "Everyone knows that if you can't find the North Star, it's on the other side of the world. Astronomy 101, my friends."

"You may be right," Joe conceded with a nod of his head.

A loud yawn then escaped Tai's mouth as he stretched his arms up to the sky. It had been a long day and he was starting to feel tired. Looking around, he could see that everybody else felt the same way.

"Alright, let's start turning in, everyone," he said.

"Hold on," Izzy replied. "Why don't we all take turns standing guard for the night? Who knows what could come out at night so there's nothing wrong with taking some extra security."

"Not TK," Matt interjected right away, his tone serious as a heart attack.

"Aw, come on, Matt!" the boy complained. "I want to help."

"No," his brother doubled down. "You're too young and you need your rest."

"Besides, you never know what comes out late at night," Tai smirked, a teasing tone in his voice. "Mimi could be sleepwalking. If you feel the cold steel at the back of your neck, it means she's about to get ya."

The satisfaction he got lasted all of a few seconds before a fist connected with his face. Tai stumbled to the ground before looking up to see a furious Matt standing over him.

"Don't ever do that again, Tai!" he roared. "You could have frightened him."

"Geez, Matt. Don't get so bent out of shape," Tai retorted. "I was just messing with the kid. You can't tell me what to do."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

Before Matt could charge towards Tai, the goggle-headed leader activated his lightsaber in a flash with the blade being pointed directly towards Matt's chest. Tai looked at him with a smirk, daring him to make a move.

"Both of you knock it off," Joe ordered as he got in-between them. "You'd make great guards, especially you, Tai, since you have your laser sword thing, so who wants to take first shift?"

"I'll do it," Tai immediately replied.

"I'm next," came Matt.

Joe smiled, relieved that the conflict between the two of them was over. "Ok, then Izzy will follow and I'll finish up the night. Sound fair?"

"Sure, whatever," replied Tai carelessly as he deactivated his lightsaber.

"Ok, then everybody else follow me to the trolley to get some sleep."

* * *

Matt turned over as he tried to make himself comfortable with the little room he had on the row he had taken up on the trolley. If he had to be honest, he would have preferred sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag than on a trolley with little room to move around in. Despite that, at least they were warm inside.

Deciding his attempts to try and sleep were useless, he got up from his row to go outside and try to relax. His guard shift was coming up in a couple of hours so he needed to rest so that he could be alert. Before he did, he took off his sleeveless shirt and placed it down onto TK's sleeping form to try and make him more comfortable. The young boy shifted slightly in his sleep as the extra warmth came over him, which caused Matt to smile a little. The boy's eyes then flashed open for a moment to look down and see the shirt before glancing up at his brother.

"Thanks, Matt," he smiled.

Matt turned away to avoid making eye contact. His face was tinged a slight red in embarrassment. He had been caught. Without offering a "you're welcome," he walked out of the trolley. The cold air hit his bare torso but it was well worth it to him.

Looking out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tai keeping the fire burning as he watched the area, the argument they had still fresh in his mind. He soon made his way to the edge of the rock they were on and looked out at the jungle. The day's events played through his mind like a movie; one minute they were all at camp and then the next they were taken to another world armed with laser swords and strange powers that were supposed to be in movies. It was enough to drive anyone out of their mind. His hand drifted down to the lightsaber at his waist and took it off his belt to examine it even closer, along with the symbol on his arm.

"Oh. Matt, it's you," came Tai's voice. "Don't you think I can handle this?"

Matt looked over his shoulder to see Tai splashing water onto his face to try and keep him up. He didn't want to start anything.

"I couldn't sleep," he replied.

"Oh and why not?" Tai now stood right beside him.

With a sigh, Matt replied, "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. It's just being here and having to watch TK has got me stressed out."

"Do you guys even live in the same house?"

The question threw Matt off.

"Not anymore," he replied. "Folks divorced when I was seven. TK went to live with my mom and I went to live with my dad, the rest is history. Because of that, we don't get to see each other a lot."

"Hm. Never knew that," Tai said in genuine surprise.

The fact he had just spilled his guts about his family's inner workings caused Matt to feel embarrassed. It was not something he liked to talk about with people and usually never brought it up. Why had he brought it up now?

Tai noticed the look of discomfort on his face. "What's the matter?"

Matt then ran off towards land on the shore. He wanted to be alone for a while so that he could relax and unwind. Once he reached the shore, he sat down into a meditative position. If he was correct, he should be sleepy in no time. Once his eyes closed, he felt everything around him enter his thoughts: the water, the plants and the trees, even the other kids. He could feel their life energy flowing through him, as weird as it sounded to him.

' _Is this the Force?'_ he asked himself.

" _Hello, Matt,"_ a masculine voice entered his mind, husky with a tone of friendliness. _'I have waited a long time to read your thoughts.'_

Matt jumped slightly at the sound of the new voice. _'Who are you? How do you know me?'_

" _You can call me a friend if you wish."_

' _That doesn't answer my question,'_ he replied. _'Who are you?'_

" _All will be revealed in time, Matt, but for now be very careful. Evil is upon you and your friends. I must go now. May the Force be with you."_

' _Hey, wait!'_ Matt tried to get an explanation but soon he could not hear the voice anymore.

"Well that was strange," he muttered.

As he recovered from the shock of that experience, the sound of something emerging from the lake, accompanied by a hiss that sounded like a gust of wind, jolted Matt from his concentration. Looking up, he saw a giant sea dragon with a long teal-colored body and a red tail. Matt hoped for a moment that it wasn't dangerous but the murderous intent in its eyes told him the exact opposite.

' _What do I do?'_ he wondered. _'I can't beat this guy.'_

"Matt, help!"

That was TK's voice. The rock had been moved to the middle of the lake with no way for the other kids to escape the monster. Immediately without thinking, Matt jumped into the water to try and swim over. He had always been a strong swimmer so that part was not what worried him; what did was how he was planning on fighting the sea dragon.

His determination rose stroke for stroke as he neared the rock. No one was going to hurt his friends without him having something to say about it.

"Hold on, guys," he called. "I'm coming."

"Matt, watch out!" TK cried. "Don't let the monster get you!"

His warning came too late as Matt felt something wrap around his leg and drag him down under the water. He thrashed around violently, trying to get whatever was holding his leg to let go of him, but all it was doing was sucking away precious oxygen that he knew was quickly running out. Soon whatever that held his leg had moved up to wrap itself around his entire body before he was brought to the surface.

Tai was unable to stand by and watch as Matt was slowly being suffocated by the sea dragon's tail. Activating his lightsaber, he immediately sprang into action by running to the edge of the rock but the monster seemed to have anticipated his move. It quickly launched an attack from its mouth, blowing Tai back, and covering him in snow.

"Matt, use the Force!" he called, realizing that it was all up to Matt to get out of this situation on his own.

Matt could barely hear him due to the blood pounding in his head as it struggled to carry oxygen to his brain. It felt like he was in the coils of an anaconda that was slowly squeezing him to death.

"I don't know how!" he choked out, his face beginning to turn blue.

"Concentrate," Tai shouted back. "You can do it. If you don't, you're going to die, Matt!"

Matt realized he had no choice. If he didn't want to continue suffering a slow, painful death, he had to do something. Unbeknownst to him, due to his eyes being shut tight, the symbol on his arm started to glow a faint blue. Focusing his concentration even more, it glowed brighter with each passing moment until the light was so bright that even with his eyes tightly shut, he could see it. Feeling all of this power surging through him, he gave a loud piercing cry that gurgled from deep inside the depths of his soul and all the built-up power bursted out, allowing a field of energy to surround him. He then released the energy, which broke him free from the monster's tail's grip.

He hit the water and quickly swam back for land, knowing that the sea dragon was not going to let him escape that easily. It hissed in anger as it hurdled towards him but Matt was ready for it as he climbed up onto the rock. Plucking the saber from his belt, he quickly activated it. The blade glowed a bright green, illuminating Matt's face with the light. Everyone else watched in awe as a confident smirk spread across his face.

"Alright, you big bastard. Let's dance."

The attack came as quick as a snakebite as the sea dragon lunged down towards him but Matt leapt out of the way with acrobatics that he never knew he could do. Another attack came just as quickly but he got out of the way of this one too. Feeling confident in himself, Matt anticipated the next attack and slashed the creature's eye in an upward motion. It roared in pain as its anger rose, which caused Matt's smirk to grow even wider; he had the beast right where he wanted it.

Deciding to change tactics, the monster this time swung its tail towards Matt to try and knock him off balance. With a powerful strike, Matt cut off its tail in one fell swoop, which emitted an agonizing cry from the sea dragon. Matt decided it was time to put it out of its misery so he jumped up onto its body and ran up its back until he leapt. Everything seemed to pass in slow motion as he swung his lightsaber across the creature's throat before landing in the water with a splash. The serpent collapsed into the water with him as it fell dead.

Everyone else was amazed by what they had seen; the way Matt took down the monster was almost like watching a heroic knight slay the mighty dragon. Even Tai had to admit that he was impressed by Matt's display of power.

Matt surfaced after a few seconds and calmly swam towards the rock, a proud smile etched onto his face. Everyone was there to greet him once he climbed onto the surface, TK being the first one, throwing his arms around his brother's waist in a hug.

"Matt, that was amazing!" the young boy said, his voice dripping with awe and amazement. "You were so awesome the way you took that monster down."

The older blonde simply blushed in embarrassment from the display of affection simply because it was in front of everybody else.

"Uh…thanks, little dude," he replied, ruffling the boy's head.

"I must say that I am very impressed, Matt," said Tai. "That monster had nothing on you. I can sense a lot of raw power that you haven't even begun to tap into yet."

"You think so?"

Tai nodded. "I know so."

Joe then came in to disrupt the moment. "Ok, I think we have all had enough excitement for one day. How are we going to get back to shore?"

Matt looked at Tai, who nodded in confirmation that he knew what he wanted to do.

"Leave that to us," he said.

Closing their eyes in concentration, the symbols on Matt and Tai's arms started to glow. Stretching their arms out and flexing their hands, the rock began to move towards the shore. Everyone watched in amazement as the shore got closer and closer until the rock finally made contact. Due to the amount of energy that they expanded to do that, Matt and Tai collapsed to their right knee to get their breath back.

"All ashore," Tai said in his best sea captain voice, which got a laugh out of Matt.

* * *

The sun had started to rise in the sky but the kids were tired from all that had gone on earlier. As soon as they stepped foot onto the shore, everyone else collapsed from exhaustion except for Tai. He was about to fall asleep when he noticed Matt and TK sleeping close together, the older blonde with his arm wrapped around the boy protectively.

"Big bro, you're the best," he could hear TK mutter contently, which brought a smile to Tai's face.

' _I think I was wrong about you, Matt,'_ he thought before settling down to sleep.

* * *

 **What a chapter. If that wasn't worth the wait, then I don't know what was. Just like with Tai, Matt was visited by a voice via the Force. Who or what is talking to them? All will be revealed in time, my loyal readers. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read. The fireworks are just about to get started. Stay tuned.**


	5. Sora Gets Firepower

**Howdy ho, everyone. Welcome back to another installment in 'The Destined Jedi'. I had to deal with finals, settling back home, and an internship all in the span of two weeks, which obviously did not leave me with a lot of time to write and I was trying to make this chapter my own rather than just some minor adjustments to the episode. Hope you guys like it all the same. Wanted to go see Coexistence in the theater on Thursday but I had to work that night :-( It's ok though, I can wait until August 7th for the DVD to come out.**

 **Anyway, let's get on with the show.**

* * *

 _The Dark Castle_

A shadowy figure watched the kids on the crystal ball with annoyance. He had sent two of his strongest monsters against the Destined Jedi and they had fallen to their power. They were beginning to tap into their abilities faster than he had anticipated.

"They're learning fast," he muttered. "At this rate, they will be unstoppable by the time they are trained."

Suddenly the picture changed and another shadowy figure appeared on the crystal ball.

"What is it, Devimon?"

"My lord," the one known as Devimon said. "The Dark Gears are ready to be released. Shall I proceed with your order?"

The figure nodded, revealing his fangs as his lips curled in a grin. "Release them. Shellmon and Seadramon were mere warm ups for what I have in store for them. If they can take them individually, just wait until they are up against an army."

* * *

 _Forest_

 _File Island_

Sora looked up at the sound of something whirring overhead; sounding almost like mosquitos or even helicopters. She saw two dark gears fly by as the group continued forward through a thick forest. For a second, she thought that she had gone crazy. After all, this type of thing never happened in their world before.

"Did you guys see that?" she asked.

Tai turned to look at her.

"See what, Sora?" he replied, looking around.

Another gear flew by above them, sounding like a zipping jet as it went by. Sora pointed up to the sky.

"That."

"Looked like an aircraft to me," said Matt as he shrugged his shoulders indifferently. "No big deal."

"I think it was more like a gear," Sora retorted. "You don't see aircraft like that back home."

"Admit it," Izzy added. "My alien theory is becoming more plausible."

"You watch too many movies, kid," Tai snickered before a cry from TK interrupted them. His foot slipped off the root he had stepped on and was about to fall if Tai hadn't caught him.

"You ok?"

TK exhaled as the adrenaline flowed through his small body. "That could have been messy," he chuckled lightheartedly.

"Be lucky that we're all here to look after you," Tai said, giving him a smile before patting him on the head.

Matt frowned as he watched the scene; that should have been him doing that for TK rather than Tai. He had been staring long enough that Tai gave him a funny look.

"What're you looking at?" he asked.

Matt quickly turned his head away without an explanation, causing Tai to give a hum in curiosity. He could sense Matt's thoughts and felt the jealousy burning through him when he saw the look Matt gave him.

"Now that that's over, let's keep moving," Sora suggested.

"Hold on a second," Matt replied. "We don't even know _where_ we're going. Heck, where would we _go_?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Tai jumped in. "I say we keep moving so that we can find some form of intelligent life around here. Maybe we'll even find those people we've been searching for."

Sora stood in deep thought. Over the two days that they had been on this island, they had not found one trace of other humans beside themselves. Maybe there were no other people here.

' _I wonder if we're going about this all wrong,'_ she thought. _'Maybe besides these creatures we've encountered, there's nothing else on this island. It's a real life Swiss Family Robinson by all accounts.'_

While she was thinking, the others continued walking on without her. It wasn't until she turned around to tell Tai what she was thinking that she noticed they were gone. She frowned as she watched them walk away.

"Well thanks for waiting," she called sarcastically before running to catch up with them.

* * *

 _Desert_

"It's so hot!"

"Mimi, stop complaining," Tai said with a roll of his eyes.

He had to admit that she was right though. After getting out of the forest, the motley crew of kids was walking through a desert with sand dunes as far as the eye could see. That wasn't the weirdest part though: strung along the sand were a series of telephone poles with no wires. It was the strangest thing that any of them had ever seen, and that was saying something considering all they had seen over the last two days.

Feeling the heat starting to get to him, Tai removed his shirt and tied it around his waist, allowing the sun to beat down on his tan skin. Even that did not stop him from feeling hot due to the hot air pressing against his bare skin.

He groaned. "It's no use! It's too damn hot out here!"

"That's it," said Joe with a tone of despair. "We're doomed! We're gonna fry like roasted piglets!"

"Relax, Joe," Izzy chimed in to try and calm him down. "We've only been walking for two minutes. I seriously doubt it takes two minutes for something to be fried."

"Well do you have any ideas on what to do, smart guy?" Joe retorted, ready to throttle Izzy into the middle of next century.

"Guys!" Sora shouted, having enough of all the complaining. "Enough! We have to stay positive so let's pretend that it's raining instead."

"How do you do that?" Mimi asked incredulously.

Sora smiled. "Easy. Just imagine that raindrops are falling on you; it's all about mind over matter."

"That's great and all but we have to find a water source and some shade," Matt shook his head. "I say we turn back now and get out of this desert."

Joe nodded quickly in agreement. "I'm for that. We should get out now."

Something then caught Tai's eye in the distance. Pulling his mini-telescope out of his pocket, he pulled it up to his eye so that he could confirm what he was seeing was real. If it was a mirage, he was going to scream.

In the distance, he could see palm trees along with a lake right in the middle. It was an oasis!

"If my eyes don't deceive me," he said to his companions. "There's an oasis not too far from here. We can get some water and shade!"

Joe jumped with excitement before taking off, leaving a cloud of dust behind him as he left everyone behind before they even knew what had hit them. With a shrug, they all ran after him as well, their excitement rising with every step.

As she ran, Sora felt as if someone had stuck a knife into her chest. Her hand pressed against it to try and alleviate whatever was ailing her, causing her to stop running, but it didn't help at all. Something was amiss somewhere and she wanted to know what it was.

Tai noticed that she stopped, which caused him to skid to a halt along with everyone else.

"Sora, what's the matter?" he asked, moving towards her and resting a gloved hand on her bare shoulder. "Why'd you stop?"

She looked up at him with a grave expression before replying, "I felt a disturbance. It was as if someone was in terrible pain and calling for help. Something is wrong."

Tai thought about this for a second. Another thing he remembered from watching Star Wars was that when a Jedi felt a disturbance in the Force, they would react as if they were in pain. It usually meant that something somewhere was not right.

"Can you go on?" he asked, squatting down to be on a more reasonable level with her. "Or do you need some time to rest?"

Hearing the possibility of more rest caused everyone else to groan loudly. They were hot enough as it is; they didn't want to stop anymore before the oasis.

"No, I'm ok," Sora shook her head, appreciating Tai's concern, before getting back up on her feet. "Let's keep moving."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Tai hesitated for a second before resuming his quick stride along with everyone else. Within a couple of minutes, they ran under the trees and breathed a collective sigh of relief from the shade that washed over them. Up ahead, they could see Joe swimming happily about in the lake.

"Hey guys," he called. "Come on in! The water's great!"

"I dunno," said TK, twiddling his thumbs nervously at the sight of the lake. "I can't swim very well."

Tai, Matt and Izzy pushed past him, stripping off their clothes. The girls went wide-eyed with a strip of red going across their faces. It was not a sight that the two of them wanted to see so they turned away to spare themselves from seeing more than they knew was appropriate.

"I'm going to go find some stuff we can use," said Sora, quickly scuttling off, her blush deepening.

"I think I'll go relax under a tree," Mimi quickly nodded in agreement, leaving the boys time to enjoy a swim.

Sora's face burned as she relived the moment again and again in her mind. She knew that it was probably tattooed on her brain by now, much to her horror.

' _I never want to see a naked man again!'_ she swore as she continued to walk.

After a while, the trauma of what she had seen started to wear off and she focused on finding a fresh water supply away from the lake and some things to eat. Her throat felt as dry as the desert they just came out of so she needed a drink of water. Using her hat as a basket, she picked whatever fruits she came across: mangoes, berries, bananas, even a few coconuts; but the water was becoming difficult to find.

"Alright, water, where are you?" Sora muttered to herself. Her hand grazed the lightsaber on her belt, snapping her out of her concentration. Taking it into her hand, she examined it along with the heart-shaped symbol on her arm.

' _I wonder if I will be able to activate it soon like Tai and Matt did.'_

It was basically because of Tai that Sora had gotten interested in the Star Wars movies in the first place. Her mother hadn't approved, but then again, when _did_ she approve of whatever Sora was interested in? Even with that, Sora did not understand much of it on a deep level. Her symbol hadn't glowed at any point yet.

' _I hope it does.'_

' _It will, Sora. You just have to believe in yourself and the Force,'_ a new voice entered her mind, causing her to jump slightly and look around the area for the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" she called, forcing herself into a defensive stance with the lightsaber held out threateningly. "Show yourself."

' _I am speaking to you through the Force, Sora,'_ the voice in her head replied. ' _You won't find me in my physical form anywhere around here.'_

' _You can do that?'_

' _Yes I can. I have been waiting to speak to you for a long time, longer than you could ever imagine.'_

Closing her eyes, Sora sat down to the ground in a meditative position so that she could focus on responding to the voice. Hearing nothing but the gentle breeze blowing through the trees and her own breathing enhanced her concentration.

' _Then can you help me find some water? My friends and I just came out of a desert and we need something to drink.'_

' _Certainly. There is a well not too far from where you are right now. The water in there is especially pure from Miharashi Mountain.'_

Sora sighed in relief. _'Thank you…what should I call you?'_

' _Just call me a friend. We will meet soon, Sora. I am looking forward to it. May the Force be with you.'_

After that, Sora didn't hear the voice anymore. Opening her eyes, she channeled her focus to find where this well was. Feeling a flow of energy under the ground, she followed it as it continued to get stronger. Seeing water rise from the ground up ahead, her pace quickened until she reached the well. Her mouth lit up from all the natural minerals flowing through her mouth as she took a sip from it.

' _This is the most amazing water I have ever tasted!'_

She quickly found a bucket nearby and took a giant swig of water from it before pouring it into her canteen. Sora could hardly believe her luck in finding this well; there was plenty enough to last them for weeks.

As she was about to go for another round, she was met with a nasty surprise: the well had dried up. Just like that. It had been bursting with water just a second ago but now was dry as a bone. She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering how that could have happened.

Determined to get to the bottom of this, Sora leaned over the edge of the well to try and see if there was any water left but felt a burst of heat blast her in the face. She quickly moved back before a stream of fire rose up from the well. To add onto her troubles, she could sense something hurdling its way towards the oasis at a blistering pace.

' _Just one thing after another today,'_ she groaned.

"Sora!"

' _That's Mimi's voice,'_ she quickly turned at the call of her name. It sounded like Mimi was in trouble so without a moment of hesitation, Sora sprang into action. She attached her canteen to her waist and ran towards the lake. Looking around, she saw that it had dried up too.

"What is going on here!" she demanded.

"Sora, is that you?"

She recognized that as Tai's voice. "Yeah," she called back. "Where are you?"

"Down here! At the bottom of the lake."

Sora ran to the edge of the lake and saw nothing but sediment. Just like the well, the giant hole in the ground that used to house the water was dry as a bone. Turning her head farther, the blush returned with a vengeance. She let out a loud shriek.

"Gross! Cover up!"

Down below, the five boys laid spread eagle on the ground…with nothing covering what was supposed to be covered. When the lake suddenly dried up, they fell to the bottom of the pit.

"Over there! Over there! Our clothes. Get our clothes!" Tai pointed to the other side of the pit, his face red as a tomato in embarrassment from being seen by a girl, let alone Sora.

"Sora!" Mimi came charging towards the auburn-haired girl, her face one of perpetual panic. "There's something coming! It looked like a giant fireball!"

She could sense it coming and it did not seem friendly. Sora knew what she had to do at that moment.

"I'll try and slow this thing down," she instructed. "You take care of the boys."

Mimi's face paled. "But, but, but, but," she stammered but Sora was already running away from her towards where she felt the fireball Mimi described coming from.

"Well, Mimi, don't just stand there! Get our clothes for us!" Joe cried from inside the pit.

She groaned loudly before reluctantly walking over to where the boys' clothes were all piled up.

* * *

Running to the edge of the oasis, Sora could see a light in the distance. If she had to guess, she would say that was the fireball that Mimi was talking about. Suddenly she wished she still had that extra bucket of water with her to put him out.

"It's all up to me now," she muttered before activating her lightsaber. The blade glowed a bright blue as she held it in a defensive stance, the fireball getting even closer than before.

' _Steady,'_ she repeated to keep herself calm, even as her breathing increased rapidly.

The fireball was now crossing the desert, the forest behind it becoming ablaze.

' _Steady.'_

She could finally get a good look at it. It had the body of a man but was composed entirely of flames. She could sense a dark energy coming from it, somewhere in its back. Sora had a hunch as to what it could be and if she were right, then maybe this creature would go back to normal.

"Do you think you can stop me, Destined Jedi?" it taunted her with an evil smirk.

' _What did he call me?'_ Sora cocked an eyebrow in confusion. As she contemplated its remark, the fireball was now standing right in front of her. Its flames burned so hot that she could feel the heat radiating off of it, causing her entire body to start sweating.

"I don't know what your problem is but maybe I can help you," she offered. "Just tell me what's wrong."

Instead of an answer, the creature instead tossed a small ball of fire towards her. Using her lightsaber, Sora was able to knife her way through it.

A flaming sword then emerged into its hand before it took a swing at Sora. She blocked the strike swiftly before retaliating with a strike of her own.

This back-and-forth continued on with it being a complete stalemate. Even with no training and little experience in saber fighting, Sora was able to hold her own quite well, mostly due to her survival instincts.

As her confidence grew, she became more forceful in her strikes and quicker to dodge any attacks that came her way, almost as if she had been doing this her entire life. She then concentrated on trying to use a Force attack to knock him back, but her symbol did not glow.

' _What?'_ she thought as she stared at it, still the same color that it was before. Why hadn't it glowed? Using the distraction to its advantage, the flame creature swept her legs out from under her, sending her crashing to the ground with a thud and her lightsaber deactivated.

Feeling the flaming sword pointed at her throat, she was afraid that this was the end.

"Good effort, Destined Jedi," the creature smirked. "But now is the time for you to die."

Sora closed her eyes as it raised the sword in preparation for the strike that would end her life, a tear running down her cheek. The sound of two lightsabers igniting pierced the air, distracting the creature from delivering the final strike. Sora looked over to see Matt and Tai standing at the edge of the tree line.

"Hey, you!" Tai's voice came. "Don't you know that it's wrong to hit girls?"

"Why don't you pick on us for a change," Matt joined in, raising his green lightsaber.

Turning its attention towards the boys, the creature moved away from Sora to get rid of these newcomers. With its back turned, Sora could see a black gear sticking out of its back.

' _That's the dark presence I felt within him,'_ she realized. _'It's that gear. If I can destroy it, maybe it'll calm him down.'_

Using the distraction to her advantage, Sora got up from the ground and reactivated her lightsaber. Before the creature could turn around, she jumped and stuck the blade into the gear. It disappeared after a few seconds, causing the creature to let out a roar of pain before it settled down.

"Thank you," it turned to Sora. "That gear was driving me crazy. I was up on the mountain and then the last thing I remember was being hit by the gear."

She smiled. "No problem. Happy I could help, uh…"

"Meramon is my name," the creature replied. "And I am forever in your debt, Destined Jedi. I must go now."

Meramon walked off, going back towards the mountain that he had come from.

"Sora, are you ok?" Tai asked as he and Matt ran over to her, their lightsabers deactivated.

She nodded. "I'm fine. Hey, guys, did you hear that he called me a 'Destined Jedi'?"

"Yeah," Matt nodded. "Wonder what that's about."

Sora let out a 'hm' in curiosity. Is that what they called all humans that lived here? Or was it specifically tailored to just her? She guessed that they would all find out soon enough.

"Alright, let's head back to the lake. I found us some food," she said, walking back into the oasis with Tai and Matt following her.

* * *

 **The adventure continues. Now Sora's got her lightsaber going, but what about her Force powers? Who's next to tap into their abilities? And when will the identity of the mysterious figure be revealed? Find out next chapter on Destined Jedi.**

 **Ok, you guys probably know who but I had to build the suspense somehow XD Once again, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and be sure to wish your mothers a Happy Mother's Day. They're the best friend you'll ever have. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read; I am interested in how you guys feel about the story as it progresses so that I know what works, what doesn't work, what could work, etc. Since I have a good idea on my schedule, I will make sure to squeeze in lots of writing time so that I can update at this time next week. I'll try to stick to that. I promise.**

 **Ciao!**


	6. The Automated Factory

**Chapter six is here. A lot of things that advance the story will be revealed. Your patience will be rewarded soon. Hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

 _The eight destined ones will rise…_

That was all that was on the piece of parchment Izzy had found in the trolley car three days before. He examined it numerous times to try and make some sense out of it but came up short each and every time as they continued their journey across the mysterious island they were on. Was it part of a riddle? There was a part of it that was illegible so it very well could have been a riddle.

It just hit him at that moment. If it was a riddle, then what was the important part? As he reread it, it sounded more and more like a prophecy. If only his computer was working, it could have given him some answers. Computers had always been Izzy's first priority from a young age rather than people. He wasn't interested in human interaction the way most of his peers were. He wasn't afraid of people; he just didn't like being involved with them.

Especially when he didn't even know who _he_ was as a person and where he fit in the world.

His classmates likewise ignored him and pretended he didn't exist, which was just fine with Izzy because he enjoyed being alone with his computer as his only companion.

Tai was one of the few exceptions. In school, he was required to choose a club and through pure luck of the draw chose the soccer club. At least he would be just one cog in the machine rather than standing out individually like in baseball so it made perfect sense. Another advantage with soccer was Izzy wouldn't have to seek out interaction with others but Tai managed to win him over with that Kamiya charm that he had. If it hadn't been for him, Izzy would not have come to summer camp at all.

He didn't pay attention as Mimi and TK collapsed to the ground from exhaustion, complaining about their feet hurting. Izzy pulled out his laptop in hopes that it would finally work this time. He could hear Matt and Tai make jokes about aliens and asking them to beam him up like Scotty in _Star Trek_ , which caused the ten-year-old to roll his eyes in annoyance. He never liked _Star Trek_.

Several seconds passed and Izzy's computer still would not turn on. To make matters worse, the warranty had expired on his laptop so he couldn't just trade in for another one.

"Crud," he muttered. "Still not working."

"Here, I've got an idea," said Tai, taking the laptop from Izzy's hands and smacking the back of the screen repeatedly. "You've just gotta give it some adjustments."

"Tai, you idiot!" Izzy snatched the computer away from him. "Are your brain cells malfunctioning?"

Tai huffed indignantly. "Geez, you act like I'm hurting the dumb thing. What's the big deal?"

"Too bad your brain isn't as big as your hair," Sora snapped.

Tai glared at her. "And what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I'm Ash Ketchum-level stupid?"

"I think you know exactly what that means," she retorted.

"Then I guess that makes you Misty."

"Fine then. Maybe Izzy doesn't want grimy fingerprints and dents all over his computer. Did you ever think of that?"

Rather than answer, Tai turned aside with a huff and folded his arms across his chest. Something in the distance caught his eye; it looked like smoke rising from somewhere. For a second, he worried it could be a wildfire but the smoke wasn't thick so that ruled that out. He ran to investigate.

Izzy tried once more to get his laptop started and this time he was finally greeted by the beautiful sight of the company logo flashing across the screen. Soon everything was up and running like it was supposed to.

"Yes!" he pumped a fist. "We're operational!"

His excitement was short-lived when the battery icon came up to show that his laptop was running on fumes. They needed to find a power source and fast.

"Hey, guys!" Tai cried. "Come take a look at this."

Due to the tone of his voice, they all could tell that it was an urgent matter so they ran as fast as they could to join him. Standing over the edge of a cliff, they could see a fully operational factory down below. It reminded the kids of a nuclear power plant with its industrial look and billowing smoke stacks.

"A factory?" Joe curiously wondered. "What do you suppose they manufacture in there?"

"Not sure but let's hope that it can provide a way home," Matt said. "Maybe there are people in there who can help us."

Tai closed his eyes and used the Force to try and sense for any other life forms in the building. Sadly, he came up empty in that department.

"I don't sense anything besides us," Tai sighed sadly. "Just great. Another wasted attempt at finding other natives besides these creatures we've encountered."

"I'm starting to think that there aren't any humans here besides us," Sora responded. "We haven't found a single trace of them so far."

"Oh, poppycock," Tai scoffed before using the Force to leap from the cliff to the ground below. The others cried out in worry but only heard a soft thud at the bottom. All they could see was Tai's grinning face.

"Well, don't just stand there," he called, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound of his voice. "Come on!"

Joe and Mimi moved back in protest.

"No way!" Joe shook his head emphatically. "I'm not doing that!"

"Me either," Mimi agreed.

Matt groaned with a roll of his eyes. He was growing really tired of their complaining, but they did have a fair point: It was dangerous for those who hadn't tapped into their abilities yet.

"Fine, we'll take the path down."

* * *

As the kids moved inside the factory, they couldn't help but get the odd feeling that someone or some _thing_ was watching them. The sounds of machinery operating and steam pumping out echoed throughout the entire factory. The lights were still on, which caused Mimi to joke about their electric bill, but it was completely abandoned. Not a single soul was there besides them.

The group of kids moved quietly across the floor, the sounds of their feet making contact barely echoing through the empty factory. Just in case someone was tricking them into thinking they weren't there, they needed to be quiet so they weren't caught. They soon came across an operating conveyor belt that had what looked like a sewing machine on it with metal arms attaching parts to it as it moved further down the line.

"What do you think that is, Matt?" TK looked up at his brother curiously.

"Not sure," Matt shrugged. "Maybe parts for robots or space ships for all I care."

"Do you think there's a cafeteria in this place?" Joe asked quietly. "I'm hungry and I could sure go for a good bowl of ramen right now."

Tai looked at him like he was crazy. "Joe, there's nobody here. What makes you think there would be one?"

"Just because no one's here doesn't mean that there aren't people who work here," the bespectacled boy retorted. "It's worth a try."

As Tai thought about it more, the idea of splitting up to cover more ground appealed to him. Maybe then they could find some answers as to why they were in this world in the first place.

"Ok," he finally said. "Here's the plan: We'll split into two teams. Joe, Sora, you come with me to see if we can find anyone who may be evading our detection. The rest of you go off and see what else you can find."

The idea of splitting up caused Joe's face to pale. "Do you really think that splitting up is a good idea, Tai? I think we should all stick together."

"What's the matter, Joey? You afraid?" Tai smirked.

Joe's mind froze when he heard the name ' _Joey'_. The others watched with a frightened expression as his face twisted into one of pure, unadulterated anger. Redness spread across his face like a flood and his tightly clenched fists shook.

"Joey?" he seethed before roaring, "JOEY?! DON'T EVER CALL ME THAT!"

Tai backed away a bit. "Jeez, Joe. Calm down."

"CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN? I DON'T WANNA CALM DOWN!"

SMACK!

Joe touched the red imprint on his cheek, finally calming down from his exploding fit of anger. Sora stood with her hand out, showing she was the one who had slapped him.

"Feel better now?" she asked, her hands resting on her hips with a lopsided grin.

He nodded, holding his stinging cheek, and released a sigh. "Much."

"Good. Let's go."

"Yes, ma'am."

* * *

Tai's footsteps echoed as they stepped onto the grate floor, practically alerting anyone to their presence if Joe's outburst hadn't done the job already. Said boy and Sora stepped in time with him, hoping to find a trace of anyone who could help them make sense of this world.

"Be on your guard, guys," Tai whispered. "I have a feeling we need to be extremely careful."

Sora nodded. "Ok."

"Why are you whispering?" Joe asked, unsure why he was doing that. "We're the only ones here."

"That's just what they want us to think," replied the goggle-headed boy with a sneaky tone to his voice, causing Joe and Sora to roll their eyes.

"Who's _they?"_ she asked incredulously.

Suddenly a loud crash echoed throughout the entire factory, which scared the kids out of their wits. Tai and Sora ignited their lightsabers to be instantly ready to take on whatever it was that was coming. After a tense silence that lasted for several seconds, they didn't hear anything else and earned a sigh of relief from all three of them. Tai and Sora deactivated their lightsabers.

"Wonder what that was," said Tai.

"I know, right?" Sora agreed. "Let's go see."

* * *

CRASH!

Matt emerged through the open doorway, having just kicked down the large metal door with surprising strength. He guessed it had to do with his enhanced Jedi abilities, not that he was complaining or anything. Izzy, Mimi, and TK soon followed, with the computer genius's attention being taken away by a magnificent sight: a giant battery.

"Prodigious!" he exclaimed, a wide smile on his face. "A battery like that can run my computer forever!"

"Keep your focus where it needs to be, Izzy," Matt glared with annoyance. "We're trying to find something that could help us."

"Maybe this _can_ help us," Izzy retorted. "If there is a way to access this battery's power, then maybe I can find a way to help solve our predicament."

Matt snorted. "Maybe Tai's right," he said. "You do watch too many movies."

"Shut up," snapped the ten-year-old as he examined the battery. After feeling around for an access panel, he finally found one and opened it. His eyes widened as he walked inside the interior of the battery, seeing all sorts of code in every language: English, Kanji, even a manuscript that he could not make out.

"This is amazing!"

* * *

"What the heck happened to this guy?" Tai cocked an eyebrow in surprise at the sight before him.

Lying on the floor in front of them was what looked like a robot, or even one of those androids that were in some of the more hardcore sci-fi movies. It had one mechanical leg and one of flesh but they were stuck in the gears, along with the rest of its lower body. The robot showed no signs of moving, which concerned the kids.

"I don't know, but I think we should help," said Sora.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Joe replied cautiously, getting a nervous feeling from his read of the situation. "What if he tries to kill us when we help him? I've seen movies like this a bunch of times where robots turn on the humans."

Tai scoffed. "You and Izzy have the same problem," he chuckled. "You guys watch too many movies. Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life. Now come on and give me a hand here."

Taking an arm, Tai pulled with as much strength as he could to try and pull the fallen robot free from the gears. No matter how hard he tried, though, it would not budge. Sora then lent a hand but they were met with the same results.

"He's just too heavy," she sighed.

Tai had an idea. "Here, let me try."

Raising his arm and focusing on the gears, the sun symbol on his arm glowed a faint orange as he used the Force to influence them to start moving. Instantly, they started to move. After watching with utter fascination for a moment, Joe and Sora immediately started to pull the robot out from under the gears. Unbeknownst to them, a black gear had dropped into its leg as they pulled it out.

Now that it was free, the robot began stirring as it tried to regain consciousness. Tai decided to speed the process along by giving a couple smacks for a jumpstart but Joe and Sora read his mind and stopped him before he could do that.

Its eyes then opened. "I am Andromon," it said in a monotone, robotic voice that reminded Tai of the Terminator.

Without warning, Andromon grabbed Sora by the leg and hung her upside down, causing her to yelp in surprise before struggling to break free from its grip.

"Hey! Put her down!" Tai roared as he used the Force to throw a nearby piece of scrap metal into the android's shoulder. It then tossed her directly into Tai's mid-section, cushioning her landing as they fell to the ground.

"You ok, Sora?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's take this guy down."

Tai widely grinned at her suggestion, igniting his lightsaber. She also did the same. Joe stood a few feet back from the fight, obviously not wanting to get involved even if he could.

"Must…destroy…alien intruders," said Andromon, moving closer to the two children.

Tai then noticed that Andromon was standing right under a series of steel beams, which gave him an idea. Withdrawing his lightsaber, he used the Force to bring them crashing down on top of the android. The three of them then dashed off without a moment to lose, knowing that it wouldn't keep Andromon down for long.

They didn't even pay attention to where they were going as they ran. For all they cared, they could be going in circles and it wouldn't matter. They just didn't want to have to run into Andromon again. As Tai and the others turned down a corridor, the lights suddenly went out. Joe gave a yelp in fright as the power shut down.

"We're doomed!" he shrieked. "Dying in eternal darkness is our fate!"

"Relax, Joe," said Sora as she ignited her lightsaber to provide them with some light. Another ignition indicated that Tai thought of the same idea.

The sound of groans could be heard behind them. For a second, Tai thought it was Frankenstein's monster based on how guttural the groans sounded but knew it was the android.

"Come on," he mouthed. "Be very quiet."

"Can you explain to me why we're sneaking away rather than running for our lives?" Joe quietly demanded before being hushed by Sora.

"Lightning Blade!" its voice came with the sound of electricity moving towards them.

' _So much for sneaking away!'_ Tai's eyes widened as the attack neared them.

* * *

"Whoops. Didn't mean for that to happen." Izzy chuckled lightheartedly. He had accidentally erased a part of the code on a wall he had been inspecting. Taking out a marker he had in his bag, he replaced the erased portion and the lights came back on in the factory.

"And then there was light," he snickered to himself before returning to typing away on his laptop. He was so close to solving the mystery of this island that he could taste it. It just now occurred to him that the reason this factory was running on nothing but pure energy was because the data it took to power it was practically alive.

' _But from what source?'_ he thought as his fingers typed like they had minds of their own, almost as if they were a detached part of his body.

A spark went off in Izzy's mind. What if there was a central life force in this world that influenced every action and their consequences? There was hardly any other explanation other than bigger powers were definitely at work here. The question to him was what he should call it.

' _Laser swords, strange abilities,'_ he contemplated, remembering his burst of speed in the forest while he and Tai were running from the beetle on their first day in this world and all the things Matt and Tai were able to do when their symbols glowed.

"That's it!" Izzy snapped his fingers before rolling up his sleeve to reveal the symbol on his arm. It was two circles with the right one being larger than the other and connected by a straight line.

' _These symbols of ours must be connected to this energy,'_ he realized. _'Which explains our abilities and why they glow.'_

" _How very observant of you."_

Izzy jumped. The sudden entry of the voice startled him so much that he nearly dropped his laptop.

"Who said that?" he responded. "Matt, is that you? TK? Mimi?"

" _It was not them, whoever they are,"_ the voice replied. _"It was I."_

Izzy then realized that the voice was not coming externally, but rather from inside his head.

' _And who are you?'_

" _I am that I am, Izzy."_

' _How do you know my name? What's yours, mysterious voice in my head?'_

" _That is privileged information for now, Izzy, but you will know soon enough. You're smart enough that you can figure it out. What are you doing?"_

The ten-year-old did not know how to react to this situation. For a second, he thought he was losing his mind due to hearing voices in his head.

" _You are not losing your mind, Izzy."_

' _Don't listen in on my thoughts!'_ Izzy admonished as he continued typing away on his laptop. _'I'm trying to understand how we came to this world and what forces are at work here. This world must rely on a central life force because whenever I close my eyes, it feels like everything on this island is speaking to me as though it were all a live being.'_

The voice in his head let out a chuckle. _"How right you are, Izzy. That is the Force you are sensing. Everything on this island and in this world is connected to the living Force. That is how I am able to communicate with you right now."_

' _But isn't that just in science fiction? I mean…I can't say that I don't enjoy Star Wars every once in a while but I know that stuff is not real.'_

" _What's Star Wars?"_

Izzy smacked his hand over his eyes and dragged it down his face in exasperation. He had to keep working.

' _Never mind. I've got work to do.'_

" _Is there something you're not telling me, Izzy? Your thoughts betray you. I can sense your insecurity. Is there a reason for that?"_

That comment caused Izzy to freeze. His mind went back to one night when he overheard his parents talking after he had gotten up to use the bathroom. They were talking about him and whether he should know "the truth" about him. The incident cut a deep emotional scar on the young boy's psyche and drifted him towards computers rather than people.

" _Izzy? Izzy? Are you still there?"_

This shook Izzy from his catatonic state.

' _Yeah, I'm still here. I'm about to abandon my alien theory entirely based on what you just told me.'_

" _I must go now. Your friends are in trouble. Can you feel it?"_

Come to think of it, Izzy did feel a disturbance in the energy within him at that moment. Something was definitely wrong.

' _Yes,'_ he replied.

" _Then go to them. I look forward to meeting you in my physical body soon, Izzy. May the Force be with you."_

' _Wait!'_

But the voice was gone just like that. Izzy packed away his laptop and ran out of the battery towards where he felt the disturbance coming from.

* * *

"Guys!"

Matt, TK, and Mimi turned around from their view on the roof to see Izzy running towards them. While he had been occupied with his business, the rest of them decided to look around the factory. What they found was that the entire place was built on perpetual motion; nothing leaves and simply gets built and taken apart again and again.

"Izzy!" Matt greeted.

"You will never guess what I just discovered," said the computer genius. "This factory runs on a computer program that keeps it going."

Matt and Mimi gave him incredulous looks. What else would he tell them that they already knew?

Izzy groaned, realizing they weren't getting it.

"That's not all," he continued. "I found out that a central life force connects everything in this world together. That explains why your symbol glows any time you use your powers, Matt. These symbols are what connect us to that life force."

"This whole thing makes my head spinny," Mimi replied, confused beyond recognition by his explanations.

"But it makes sense," Matt countered. "How else would they glow? It also explains why I heard that voice the other day."

Izzy's ears perked up. "You heard a voice too?"

"Yeah I did. Are you telling me that you heard a voice while you were in the battery?"

Izzy nodded. "It told me that it is because of this life force that it was able to communicate with me. We share a telepathic link it would seem."

"Does that mean I'll be hearing voices too?" Mimi asked, interested by this piece of information.

"It's certainly possible."

"What about me?" TK bounced excitedly. "Do you think that'll happen with me too?"

Matt smiled softly at his brother's enthusiasm. "Anything can happen, squirt," he said. "We'll just have to see."

"GUYS!"

They all turned to see Tai, Sora, and Joe running towards them. Their faces were pale, as though they had seen a ghost and were running from it.

"We've got to get out of here!" Tai cried. "Otherwise it's gonna get us!"

"What's going to get you?" Izzy asked.

Before Tai could answer his question, a portion of the floor in the middle of the roof collapsed, separating the two parties from each other. Andromon then emerged from the floor.

"Hostilities detected," it said, staring directly at Matt and the others. "Must eliminate."

Its chest plate dropped to reveal cannons that were primed and ready to fire at them.

"Guys, get behind me!" Matt instructed as he activated his green lightsaber.

Andromon then fired the missiles towards them. Mimi and Izzy immediately ran away while Matt jumped out of the way with impressive acrobatics, which left poor TK in firing range!

"Matt, help!" the young boy cried as the missiles closed in on him.

Matt quickly acted and used the Force to push them away from his brother, sending them into each other. He looked back at him.

"You okay?"

TK nodded, still shaken from that experience. Matt then turned his attention towards Andromon.

"Who dares to challenge Andromon?" it said.

"I do," Matt replied, lifting his lightsaber in a fighting position.

Tai and Sora ignited their lightsabers as well.

"Count us in," said Tai.

Matt nodded with a confident smile and charged towards the android with a cry of determination. Andromon seemed to have anticipated the attack because Matt ended up with a foot in his chest, knocking him to the ground. Tai tried to use the distraction to his advantage but was pushed aside with a swipe of Andromon's arm, leaving Sora alone to fight.

Before she could take a turn striking it, Andromon reached behind itself to reveal an electro-staff and activated it. Hearing the electricity surging through the ends of the staff, Sora mustered up her courage to charge towards it. Sparks flew as laser met electricity every time the two would parry the other's strikes. Despite its' large size, Andromon was very agile and quick to react to her attacks.

Izzy sat back and watched all of this with fascination. He knew that it was his responsibility to look after the others while Tai, Matt, and Sora fought but he could tell that Andromon was on a completely different level than them. He had to do something.

' _If only there was a way I could help them.'_

A faint purple glow started to make its presence known and Izzy knew that it was his symbol. He looked around for something he could use to distract the android with and found a barrel shaking next to him. Looking between the symbol on his arm and the barrel, Izzy deducted that the barrel was reacting to it. Stretching out his hand, it lifted from the ground. Izzy didn't stop to enjoy the moment because he knew that he had to help the others, so he swept his hand towards Andromon and the barrel flew towards it.

Sora was in a saber lock with Andromon, but it was quickly overpowering her. Just as she thought it would shock her with one of the ends of the staff, a metal barrel clanged against the android's back, pushing it forward from the impact, which allowed Sora to escape.

"Hey, you!" Izzy cried, standing in front of Andromon this time. "You want someone new to pick on, let it be me."

"Alien life form. Must destroy!" Andromon cried, twirling its staff in an intimidating manner.

Izzy took his lightsaber from his belt and activated it. Like Matt, his blade too was a bright green. The two sized each other up for several seconds before Andromon swooped in to attack. Izzy dodged as it pushed one of the electric ends in towards his face and wrestled with the android for grip. Due to its robotic build, Andromon was able to take the staff from Izzy's grip, but not before one end collided with its leg, emitting a cry of pain from the android.

The two weapons were a blur as the two ferociously attacked each other. Izzy's lightsaber was a whirlwind of green while sparks flew from Andromon's staff whenever they collided. As things settled down, Izzy noticed that its leg started sparking.

 _Maybe that's where its power comes from,'_ he thought, breathing heavily from the whole ordeal. _'If I can just strike through it, I should be able to shut it down.'_

Andromon must have sensed that Izzy was tiring out because it came harder than it had before. When it went for a strike, Izzy dodged and stuck his lightsaber right through its right leg. The android roared in pain as a black gear came out of its leg and disappeared right away.

' _Another gear,'_ Izzy observed. _'That's the second one we've encountered so far. I wonder what those are about.'_

Andromon stood motionless for a few moments. The kids weren't sure whether this was a good or bad thing until it approached them.

"Thank you for saving me, Destined Jedi," it said. "I'm sorry for all the damage I've caused. I'm normally a non-violent Digimon."

"Digimon, is that what you creatures call yourselves?" Izzy asked.

"And why do you call us the 'Destined Jedi?'" Sora also asked, remembering being called that by Meramon too.

"Yes, Digimon is what we are," replied Andromon, answering Izzy's question before turning to Sora. "It is part of a prophecy that humans will come to the Digital World and bring peace to it. Those humans are called the Destined Jedi."

Izzy then reached into his shirt pocket for the piece of parchment. He opened it and read the words written on the page. Now it all made sense.

" _The eight destined ones will rise,_ " he read. "Now it all makes sense. But hold on, there's only seven of us so the prophecy is not yet complete."

Everybody else gasped in surprise. An eighth member? How come that person wasn't with them when they were brought to the now-named Digital World? They couldn't complain about the extra help though; the more, the merrier in their fight to find a way home.

"Cool!" TK cried, excited at the prospect of another member. "I hope they're nice."

"Why us?" Matt asked. "Why were we chosen?"

"That I cannot answer."

Tai then stepped up to speak. "That's great and all but how do we get out of here, Andromon?"

"That I can show you," it said, turning to walk back into the factory. The kids soon followed.

Eventually Andromon led them to a sewer pipe. Mimi cried out in disgust at the sight of it while the others merely squirmed. Going into a sewer was not their idea of an escape plan but it was better than nothing.

"Follow the path and you will be free," said Andromon. "May the Force be with you, Destined Jedi."

"Thank you," everyone thanked as they entered the pipe.

* * *

 **So now that Izzy has tapped into his abilities, I guess you guys know who that leaves next. Rather than doing the Toy Town episode next, I'm going to be skipping ahead to the eggs episode, which is one of my favorite episodes of season 1, and combine Joe and Mimi tapping into their abilities at the same time. I'm really starting to get into the groove of this story and I hope you guys are enjoying it. Leave a review and subscribe to let me know how I'm doing and that you enjoy the story. See you all again next week ;-)**


	7. Climbing Infinity Mountain

**Welcome to chapter 7, everyone. Hope you all enjoy it because Mimi and Joe are the stars of this chapter. I decided to combine them into one because I felt the eggs episode would do well for both of them.**

 **I want to thank Ackbarfan5556 for his support for this story, as well as all of you for reading it. I also want to thank my friend Music Chick for being the best supporter of my stories that she could possibly be. If you weren't married, I'd kiss you, Ren XD**

* * *

Joe Kido held his arms close to his body as the ice cold winds blew against him. His exposed arms were dotted with goose bumps and started to shake. He rubbed them up and down to try and generate some warmth but it was useless. Looking around, he could see that with the exception of Mimi and TK, who were dressed a bit more appropriately for the cold, everyone else was feeling the chill as well.

' _This is crazy!'_ he groaned. _'How could this have happened?'_

To think that he was planning on being stuck in cram school all summer. That plan went up in smoke the minute his mom came to him about going on the school camping trip. He didn't want to but she guilt tripped him enough that he finally relented to it. His father even backed her up on it, which surprised Joe because it was his dad who pushed him to do extra classes during the summer. He desperately wanted to get into a good middle school so he needed to take extra time to study for his entrance exams.

Joe knew he wanted to be a doctor. His father was one; his mother was a nurse; and his two older brothers were pre-med students so he was destined to follow in their footsteps. His father had made that clear with him since he could walk and talk. There was so much pressure put on him that sometimes he wondered if his parents even loved him.

"So what's the deal with this eighth child, Izzy?" he heard Tai ask the computer genius.

"Obviously there needs to be eight of us so that the prophecy can be fulfilled," Izzy replied. "It's important that we find this eighth child as soon as possible. They could be here in the Digital World at this very moment."

"But how would we look for them?" Matt asked. "We don't even know where to start."

Izzy shrugged. "You've got me."

The kids were currently walking through a forest not unlike the one they were in when they first came to the Digital World after finally escaping the sewer. During the walk, they talked about how much they missed being home and wanted to go back. They were going on four days of being in the Digital World and wondered if anyone was searching for them back home. All this talk made Joe depressed.

"It's so cold," he shivered.

"Yeah but think on the positive side of things," Sora said, putting a smile on her face even though she was just as cold. "It might even snow."

"Wouldn't that be something," Tai chuckled. "We'd finally get to have some fun."

"Are you serious?" Joe chastised, not understanding why they think snow would be a good thing. "It would be horrible if it started snowing. If it does get colder, then we can't camp out anymore. We would probably freeze to death."

Matt and Tai scoffed, which only made Joe's mood even worse.

"Scoff all you want," he rolled his eyes. "But when you're freezing your butts off, don't come crying to me. I'll just say I told you so. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Think first, that's my motto."

Tai clapped a hand on his shoulder with a chuckle. "You sure are a piece of work, Joey."

"Don't call me Joey!"

Everyone laughed at Joe's furious expression. He looked like a tick about to pop and provided some much-needed comic relief to get their minds off of how cold it was.

Continuing their journey, it wasn't long before they came across a field covered in white, which they noticed to be snow. Mimi and TK ran into it immediately to frolic in the frozen field while the others thought up a plan on what to do next.

"I say we move across the field," said Tai. "There's no other way around it."

"But if we do, our toes will go numb," countered Matt. "We need to find another way."

"Oh yeah, what do you suggest we do?"

Matt tried to think of something but couldn't seem to come up with anything, causing Tai to smirk in victory. Joe was not going to have it anymore for his worst fears had been confirmed.

"Matt's right. It's impossible to continue on at this rate," he said.

Tai rolled his eyes before pointing to the looming mountain behind them. "Look, it's either cross the field or go up the mountain. Be my guest and pick your poison."

Unbeknownst to him, Sora was molding a snowball in her gloved hands before throwing it at him while his back was turned. Tai sensed something coming his way and ducked before the snowball could collide with his head. He turned with a teasing smile on his face.

"Attacking a man with his back turned," he smirked. "How much more cowardly can you get, Sora?"

Using the Force, he formed a snowball of his own and Force threw it at her, hitting her in the shoulder. Soon the whole thing escalated into an all-out snowball fight between Tai, Sora, and Matt. It had been a while since they were able to have fun so it was great to get it out of their system for just a few moments. As Tai tried to hit Matt with a snowball, he missed and it hit Joe on the shoulder instead.

"Ow!" he cried, grabbing his shoulder. "Stop it!"

Tai glared at him. "You know, you don't know how to have fun, Joe. You need to learn how to relax for a change rather than be stiff all the time."

"I am not!"

"Are too!"

They continued this back and forth for several moments until a faint sulfuric smell hit their noses. Sniffing the air to determine the source of the smell, they saw a column of steam rising from the tree line to their right. If their hunch was right, that could only mean one thing.

"A HOT SPRING!"

* * *

"So much for that," Tai said sadly as he watched the water boil.

The smell was indeed hot springs but they were far too hot for the kids to take a dip into. They may as well call themselves cooked chicken if they were to take the plunge.

"Aw! And I was looking forward to a hot bath!" Mimi whined, plopping herself down on her butt and drawing her knees into her chest. "I hate this place! One minute it's burning hot, the other I'm freezing my toes off. I'm starving so bad my tummy's in knots, and my hair's frizzy. A girl cannot maintain her beauty with all these changes _and_ having to deal with monsters! I WANT TO GO HOME!"

"MIMI, SHUT UP! YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!" Joe screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone watched in dead silence as Joe heaved to try and get his breath back after that explosion. Once he seemed to have calmed down enough, he took a deep breath and assumed a calm demeanor.

After a tense few seconds, Mimi's lip trembled until she couldn't hold it back anymore and started crying. Her wails could be heard from miles around as she cried her eyes out.

"Well done, Joe," Sora snapped with a glare as she moved to comfort the sobbing girl. "I hope you're proud of yourself."

To make matters worse, the rest of them suddenly realized how hungry they were. All of their emergency food supply had been eaten by now so the group needed to find something that they could eat.

"Lookit!" TK cried over Mimi's sobs, pointing towards something.

Joe followed the young boy's finger and what he saw caused his face to fall in disbelief, his glasses slipping down his nose.

"Tell me I'm not imagining this," he said in shock, wondering if his mind was just playing tricks on him or if the heat from the hot springs was melting his brain.

Tai looked to see what he was talking about. Once he saw what Joe and TK saw, he gave a victorious cry and wrapped an arm ferociously around Joe's neck.

"It's for real!"

"Aw, come on, man," Joe whimpered. "That's ridiculous."

A large green refrigerator stood in the middle of the clearing. To say that the kids were surprised would have been an understatement. It wasn't every day that refrigerators popped up in the middle of clearings.

"What would a refrigerator be doing way out here?" Joe couldn't get over his shock. How was something like this even possible?

The other kids didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth so they decided to check out what was in the fridge, despite Joe's constant warnings that whatever could be in there would likely be spoiled since it was not connected to any power source.

"Man, look at all these eggs!" Tai cried as he opened the fridge. "These will get us by for a month at least!"

"Hold on," Joe replied nervously. "Those don't belong to us! I know we're all hungry but that doesn't mean we should resort to stealing!"

Everyone else looked at him like he had lobsters crawling out of his ears.

"It's either that or we starve to death," Matt said with a roll of his eyes, just about reaching the end of his rope with Joe. "Take your pick."

"Besides, whoever owns this would likely say we can have some." Sora quipped.

"Exactly," Izzy joined in. "We'd tell them that it's an emergency situation."

"Rationalize away, Joey K." Tai teased.

' _Damn it, why do they always have to coerce me into these things?'_ Joe groaned to himself. _'It makes me feel like I'm getting away with murder.'_

Knowing he was not going to convince them otherwise, Joe decided to let sleeping dogs lie and relented. He was hungry and needed some food in his stomach, which won over his better judgment and principles.

"Fine," he growled. "But someone has to have a good head on their shoulders. Without me, you guys would be in a world of trouble right now."

"Jeez, Joe, what is with you?" Matt retorted. "You've been nothing but a complete basket case all day."

"I am just trying to be careful, unlike the rest of you weirdoes!"

"Why I oughta…"

"Enough!" Sora ended the argument. The veins in her neck stood out as she yelled at them. She was getting really tired of having to end arguments. "Now let's get these eggs ready to eat. No more fighting for the rest of the time. You got that?"

They both nodded their heads in understanding. Everyone else then broke away to help start cooking the eggs for dinner, except for Joe; he stayed back and skipped rocks across a spring silently. His silence carried through all of dinner.

* * *

"Aw, come on! It's the best we can do! We've got no choice!"

"It's too dangerous, Tai! None of us will be able to make it up that peak."

Joe watched as Tai and Matt argued over what their next plan of action should be. Tai was trying to convince Matt that they should climb up the mountain but Matt thought they should play it safe and try something else.

"It's the best view of the island," Tai shot. "We would be able to see everything from up there."

"The risks outweigh the benefits," Matt retorted. "We need to sit down and think for a bit. Maybe the Force will guide us towards a better way."

"Oh, so you're depending on some mystical thing to guide us," Tai chuckled with a roll of his eyes. "That's a laugh."

"Well, do you have anything else for us?"

"I think you know where I stand."

"Don't raise your fists at me! You can't push me around into doing anything you want."

Joe couldn't take this arguing any longer and decided to intervene.

"Guys, come on. Stop fighting," he said calmly. "Let's be sensible here."

"So what do you think about this, Joe?" Matt asked, hoping he could sway Joe to his side. "Who has the better idea: me or Tai?"

Joe tensed up as he was put on the spot. He never was someone who liked confrontation, rather he preferred avoiding it at all costs. Unfortunately, since he had been in the Digital World, he'd been forced to stop one too many fights than he would have liked.

"Um…I…uh…" he stuttered, trying to come up with an answer. "Tai does have a good point in that if we get to the top of the mountain, we would be able to see the whole island."

"Ha!" Tai cried victoriously, thinking that Joe was siding with him.

"Hold on," Joe held up a finger before he could get too excited. "Matt also made a good point. It would be irresponsible of us to go up to a place we don't know that much about. For all we know, there could be more monsters up there and we wouldn't have any way to defend ourselves."

"Oh, so you're saying we can't defend ourselves with these?" Tai snapped, shoving his lightsaber in Joe's face. "You have one too, Joe. Use it!"

"I would prefer not to," Joe retorted, looking down at the lightsaber on his belt. "I'll leave that to someone like you or Matt since you guys enjoy fighting so much."

"We're not fully trained, Tai, so we can't handle every situation that we come across," Matt reminded. "I know that just because you have a lightsaber and Force powers, you think you can do anything, but you can't."

"Guys, let's not be difficult here!" Joe's voice raised another octave as his face started turning red in irritation. "We can come to a clear consensus if we just talk it out."

"That's rich coming from you," Matt scoffed incredulously, turning his ire to Joe. "You are the most difficult person I have ever met."

"Don't be a wuss, Matt," Tai re-entered the conversation, feeling as though he was being ignored.

"Take that back, Tai!"

"ENOUGH! YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!"

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

All three boys reeled back from being slapped across the cheeks at the same time. Sora glared at them with flaming red eyes.

"Put a cork in it, you three," she snapped, her demeanor reminding them of facing an angry mother. "Now let's settle down. We need to find somewhere we can sleep for the night."

The three boys, shocked, lowered their faces, their eyes darting side to side from the embarrassment. Silence reined heavily as the sting on their cheeks humbled them until Izzy spoke.

"How about we try the caves we saw?" he suggested. "At least we would have some shelter."

"Good thinking, Izzy," Sora nodded before taking Tai and Matt by the hands and leading them away from Joe before they could try to start anything. Mimi and TK soon followed, which left Joe all by himself in shock.

' _Well that sure went well,'_ he groaned to himself with a roll of his eyes. _'Instead of breaking up the fight, I got into it myself. Smooth move, Joe.'_

He then quickly followed before they got too far ahead of him.

* * *

Joe couldn't sleep as he recalled the events from earlier. While everyone else was comfortably asleep, he couldn't stop tossing and turning for an hour. It was driving him crazy.

" _You have a lightsaber too, Joe! Use it!"_ Tai's words echoed in his head.

' _He's right. I do have one but I don't know what to do with it. I can't let this keep going on. We have to find a way back home and I'm going to be the one to get us there. I'm the responsible one in this group.'_

He looked at the yellow wristbands on his arms, which signified him as a group leader at camp. After all that had gone on over these past four days, he felt undeserving of them.

Knowing he was not going to rest peacefully at all until he did what he needed to do, he stood to his feet. He was going to make it up to the mountain peak if it was the last thing he did.

Joe scribbled a little note in the sand, letting everyone else know that he would be back later, and walked out of the cave into the cool night air. The stars twinkled overhead and clouds swirled near the peak of the mountain, creating a picture perfect atmosphere for a night like tonight. Before he could set off towards the mountain path, a yawn stopped him from moving.

"Joe?" Mimi yawned, rubbing her eyes as they adjusted to the darkness. "What are you doing up?"

Joe didn't want to drag anyone else along so he thought of an off-putting explanation to give to her.

"No reason," he shrugged. "Just gonna go for a walk."

"Not up that mountain, I hope," she replied. "It's too dangerous for you to go alone."

"You're not my mom!" he snapped. "Go back to sleep. I'm doing this alone."

Mimi stepped back a bit in fear at him raising his voice. A guilty look then crossed his face, remembering his outburst before dinner.

"Look, I'm sorry about earlier," he said softly, trying his best to give her a smile. "It was out of line and I shouldn't have done it. I'm just as high-strung as you are, and don't know what to do either, so I'm doing something about it. It's my responsibility to keep you guys safe."

She pondered his words for a few moments. As she examined herself, she realized she had been doing an awful lot of complaining lately and not very much to help the group. After all, Mimi was never the adventurous type; she preferred her life the way it was and didn't ask for much else, which was just fine with her. All of a sudden being thrown into this other world and having to fight monsters was a lot to handle. She had something to prove not only to the others, but to herself as well.

"Then I'm going with you," she finally said.

Joe immediately shot it down. "No. It's too risky. I don't care about my own safety as much as I do your own."

"Then I'll be the one to look out for _your_ safety," Mimi retorted with a tone that told him that she was not going to change her mind about this.

With a groan, Joe relented. "Fine."

"Yippee!" she cried in glee, before covering her mouth when she realized she had said it a little too loud. She then gave a much quieter "yay" before she and Joe started their journey up the mountain.

Joe had always prided himself on being a good climber. In fact, one of his dreams when he was younger was to climb Mt. Everest someday but he grew out of it eventually, telling himself that it was an unrealistic goal. This was the closest he was going to get to living that dream. With Mimi trailing him step for step, he felt more at peace than at any other moment that they were in the Digital World.

For the next half-hour, the two of them hiked uneventfully through the mountain trails. Going across log bridges, steep ledges, and inverted paths was proving to be murder on their legs since the two of them never really worked out that much.

"How much further?" Mimi asked, bending over with her hands on her knees in exhaustion and gasping for breath as they stopped for a break. "This is taking forever."

"It shouldn't be that much further, Mimi," Joe assured her. "Just hold out for me a little longer."

"I don't know if I can!"

"Yes you can," he encouraged. "You just have to believe that you can do it. Besides, I'm right here if you need me."

Hesitantly, she nodded her head and the two continued on without incident. The wind blew through the cliffs with a howl, giving Joe the unsettling feeling that something on the mountain was watching them. They needed to be extra careful if they were going to make it to the peak before sunup.

A loud rumbling soon surged through the entire mountain trail, causing everything around them to start shaking. Mimi screamed in fright as she wrapped her arms around Joe's torso. The shaking stopped after what was five seconds but felt like five hours for Joe and Mimi.

"What was that?" she whimpered in fear.

Joe looked overhead to see a small group of black gears flying out from the side of the mountain just a few meters away from them.

"Well at least we know where those black gears come from," he lightly chuckled, trying to keep the mood light even though he was scared out of his mind.

" _Geez, can you believe this guy?"_

" _Behave!"_

" _Ow!"_

Joe heard a smack somewhere but that was the least of his concerns. What were those voices that he had heard? He wasn't going crazy, was he?

' _No, Joe, you're not going crazy. You're hearing me loud and clear.'_

Joe yelped in fright, realizing that he had indeed heard that voice. In his twelve years of life, he had never seen anything close to this, which was saying something considering all he had seen over the last few days.

' _Who are you? What are you?'_ he demanded.

" _I am the voice in your head sent to drive you crazy,"_ the voice then laughed for a few seconds. _"I'm just kidding. Call me a friend."_

' _Uh, ok,'_ Joe thought about this for a moment. Hearing voices was usually not a good sign but it sounded friendly enough. Maybe it could help them.

"Joe, are you ok?" Mimi asked, wondering what was going on with him.

"Y-yeah, Mimi," he nodded. "I'm fine."

" _You have to pardon my friend. He can't control himself sometimes,'_ came another voice, this time for Mimi. _"It's nice to finally communicate with you, Mimi. I have been waiting for this for a long time."_

' _This is probably what Tai and the others were talking about,'_ Mimi thought before answering the voice. _'Um…it's nice to meet you? What's your name?'_

" _I'm sorry but I can't reveal that right now. You'll find out soon enough."_

' _Why?'_

" _Because that is what we have been told."_

Mimi cocked an eyebrow in surprise. _'There are more of you?'_

" _Yes."_

" _Boy, she's sure taking this better than Mr. Frantic over here,"_ came the other voice with a snide tone. _"You would not believe some of the things he's thinking about."_

" _Don't listen in on his thoughts! That's rude."_

" _Oh, whatever."_

It then returned to Mimi. _"Sorry about him. He loves joking around and he's been waiting to do this with Joe for a long time."_

' _It's…ok,'_ Mimi responded, unsure of how to react to this situation. _'Why did the both of you wait until now to reveal yourselves? Why didn't you do that sooner?'_

" _We wanted to, but Gennai wouldn't let us."_

' _Who's Gennai?'_ she wondered curiously.

" _You'll find out soon. He's waiting for you. Goodbye, Mimi. I look forward to seeing you soon."_

And just like that, the voices ceased. Joe and Mimi looked at each other speechless, unsure of how to register what happened. Joe cleared his throat, breaking the silence, before beginning their journey again.

"Okay! Uh, a little further. This way."

"Right-right behind you," Mimi stammered, following him.

The two continued for another hour before coming across a waterfall cascading down the mountainside. After taking a much-needed drink of water, they evaluated how much further they needed to go before they reached the top of the mountain. The sun was beginning to rise in the sky, cascading the entire island in a flood of sunlight.

A neigh from above caused them to look toward the sky. Joe squinted his eyes and put his hand over them to create some shade for him to get a better look at what was coming. What he saw was a flying horse with a red mask over its face. Not wanting to take a chance to see if this creature was friendly or not, he and Mimi hid in a nearby cave to observe the horse.

To their surprise, the horse didn't seem like it was interested in them. It flew down towards the waterfall and lapped up the water in its muzzle.

"I don't think it knows we're here," Joe whispered quietly.

"Aw, he's so cute," Mimi gushed. "Just like a real horse."

"Mimi, now's not the time for this kind of thing. We need to keep moving."

"But…"

Before Mimi could continue, a loud whizzing sound echoed throughout the mountain. The horse stopped taking a drink and looked towards the sky, its ears standing at attention at the sound. Suddenly, before any of them knew what happened, the horse gave a cry of pain as a black gear stuck itself in its back.

"This doesn't look good," Joe whimpered as the horse then turned towards them with malicious intent.

"RUN!"

* * *

Sora let out a loud yawn and threw her arms up in the air as she woke up. Everyone else around her was still fast asleep as she rubbed her eyes and got up from her curled up position on the cave floor, ready to face a new day.

As her mind became more cognizant, she noticed that Mimi and Joe were gone.

' _That's odd,'_ she thought. _'Wonder where they could be.'_

"Mimi? Joe?" she called as she walked outside of the cave. "Where are you?'

A note in the sand by her foot drew her attention.

 _I'll be back in a little while. Please wait for me. –Joe_

It took a second for Sora to realize what just happened. Joe was planning on climbing the mountain and Mimi must have gone along with him. This was not good.

"Everybody, wake up!" she yelled into the cave. "We have an emergency here!"

* * *

"SOMEBODY HELP!" Mimi screamed as she and Joe ran from the horse, running harder than she ever had in her young life.

An explosion came from behind them, sending them flying to their fronts on the ground. The ground below them rumbled as the horse's hooves stumbled towards them, ready to finish them off.

"What do we do, Joe?" Mimi demanded as she clung to Joe's shirt.

"I'm thinking. I'm thinking," he replied, just as frightened as she was.

"Well do it fast! It's right on top of us!"

Joe didn't know it but the symbol on his arm was starting to glow a subtle grey. He was the responsible one so he needed to find a way to protect Mimi and get them out of this situation. Just then, the horse unleashed a ball of energy from its maw that collided with the side of the mountain. To his and Mimi's horror, it brought an avalanche of rocks tumbling down toward them. The two of them closed their eyes and braced themselves for the inevitable collision.

But it never came.

Opening his eyes hesitantly, Joe saw the rocks above them floating in mid-air. The glow from the symbol on his arm was bright enough to be noticed this time, cluing him into what was happening.

His eyes widened in realization. He was using the Force! Putting off the celebration of this realization, he gestured his hand to the side so that the rocks fell away from them. His attention then turned to the lightsaber on his waist.

' _It's time,'_ he thought as he took it in his hand and activated it.

The blade was a piercing blue, a much lighter one than what Tai's and Sora's were. With his newfound courage and activated saber, Joe got into a defensive stance as the horse moved towards them.

"Mimi, get behind me," he ordered. "I'll protect you."

She followed his orders without hesitation, not wanting to get caught in the crosshairs of this fight.

Noticing the gear protruding out of the horse's back, Joe began to think of a plan. If he could just destroy the gear, then the horse would go back to normal. There was nowhere else to run; they were caught between a rock and a hard place right now.

' _This is crazy!'_ he gritted his teeth and exhaled sharply before letting out a determined yell from the depths of his soul and jumped higher than he ever had before.

The horse was so surprised by this turn of events that it didn't have time to react before Joe wrapped his arms around the gear. He desperately tried to pull it out but it wouldn't budge, earning a cry of pain from the creature beneath him as the gear shifted around in its back. He tried moving his lightsaber to a good angle so that he could destroy the gear, but the horse then started bucking like a bronco as it lifted into the air. Due to the sudden motion, he let go of his lightsaber and watched as it fell to the ground below.

' _Now I know how cowboys feel at a rodeo,'_ Joe thought as he was tossed and thrown around on its back, but he did not let go.

"Joe, get out of there!" Mimi cried. "You're gonna get hurt!"

"I have to do this, Mimi," he replied. "I'm responsible for you. I have to be positive."

"Don't be stupid!"

The symbol on Mimi's arm started to glow a subtle green, barely a flicker as she tried to figure out what to do to help Joe. The horse then bent over, which forced Joe to slip forward and ultimately let go. Mimi cried out in horror as he started falling and screaming towards the sharp rocks below. She had to do something or he was going to die.

"JOE!" she screamed with her eyes closed as she forced her hand out.

Joe's screams stopped. Mimi opened her eyes, hoping with all her heart that what she thought happened didn't happen. To her relief, she saw Joe hovering just above the rocks. She saw a bright light out of the corner of her right eye and knew right away that it was the symbol on her arm.

"That could have been messy," Joe chuckled facetiously as he continued hovering. "It's up to you now, Mimi. Destroy the gear on its back and it'll go back to normal."

"But I don't know if I…" Mimi started to say, but Joe interrupted her.

"You can do it," he nodded encouragingly. "I believe in you, Mimi!"

Taking his confident words in stride, Mimi nodded and slowly lowered her hand so that Joe could land on the ground softly. She took the saber off of her waist and scrambled to find out how to activate it.

"How do you work this thing?" she demanded before hitting a switch that brought the blade forth, causing her to jump back in surprise.

Unlike the others thus far, the color of Mimi's lightsaber was purple. She frowned in disappointment because she hoped that it would be pink but she shrugged, thinking purple was close enough. Holding it with two hands, she approached the horse slowly.

"Uh…good horsey," she said softly, having trouble hiding the fact she was frightened out of her mind. "Nice horsey."

The horse was not having any of it as it charged towards her. She closed her eyes and took a hack at the air, hoping to land on the gear, but instead caused the creature to stay back. Mimi slowly summoned the courage to open her eyes.

"I'm sorry to do this," she apologized before running with a warrior cry. Jumping over one hoof, she buried her lightsaber into the gear in its back before ripping it out. The gear disappeared instantaneously and the horse flew off without a moment to spare, happy to be free of the gear.

' _I did it,'_ a smile started creeping on Mimi's face. _'I actually did it.'_

"Joe, are you ok?" she asked as she looked down from the cliff to where he was.

He nodded with a thumb up. "Yeah, I'm fine. Give me a moment and I'll be right up."

It took a few moments for him to climb back up to the ledge with Mimi helping him up once he made it.

"That was some smart thinking there, Mimi," he said. "I thought I was a goner for a second."

"I thought so too," she replied. "But it's thanks to these weird symbols of ours that we're still in one piece."

Noticing his lightsaber was still on the ground, she picked it up and stretched it out to him.

"Lose something?" she teased as he took it back with a smile.

"Thanks."

"Guys!"

The two of them turned to see Tai, Sora, and the others all running towards them. They leapt over the gap in the path before joining them on the other side.

"Are you all ok?" Sora asked, her eyes flashing with concern.

They nodded.

"Yeah, we're fine," said Joe, his lips curling into a confident smile. "Mimi just saved my live."

"Mimi?" Tai, Matt, and Izzy all gasped in surprise.

The girl in question nodded.

"Hm," said Tai. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"Mimi and I wanted to climb the mountain to see what was up there," Joe continued to explain. "In fact, I believe we're almost there."

Determined to reach the top even more, the group of kids finished the rest of the trek to the peak after a few more minutes of walking. They all looked out in awe at the view of the entire island; the ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. The kids could see the factory they had left a couple days ago, the desert, and many other places they had been on the island.

"Doesn't look like there's much out there," Matt frowned.

"Yeah, but I think Mimi and I discovered something on the way up," Joe looked at her with a smile, which she returned with a nod and grin.

* * *

 **So now that all of them, save for TK, have tapped into their abilities, what awaits our heroes next? Find out on the next chapter of The Destined Jedi.**

 **Now it is time to answer some reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yes, Andromon basically was one XD I initially thought of giving him a lightsaber but I thought that would be impractical. Glad to see you are enjoying the story.**

 **If you guys haven't guessed who are speaking to the Destined Jedi, be sure to leave a review or PM me your thoughts on who it is. I think you can figure it out by now ;-) Leave a review and subscribe as you read. I'm having a blast writing this story so I want to know what your thoughts on the story are.**

 **Have a Happy Memorial Day weekend, everyone, and enjoy the sunshine. See you all next week for the next episode of The Destined Jedi. Stuff is now getting good ;-)**


	8. Evil Shows His Face

**I am early again with the updates XD I actually got this done on Thursday but I wanted to wait until today to update it so that way I'm staying on track. We are beginning to deviate even further from the original story, which means a lot more original things will happen. I know this is the moment most of you have been waiting for so enjoy!**

* * *

Up on the very peak of Infinity Mountain, darkness swirled around like an evil fog. A temple in resemblance to the Parthenon in Athens, Greece sat at the very top, like a symbol that evil is watching over the entire island.

In this lair, a vampire-like creature sat on a throne built for a king. In a way, he _was_ the king of the island. Devimon was his name, and evil was his game. Just the mere sight of him was enough to send a chill up even the bravest of warriors' spines; his blood red eyes looked as though they were seeing right through you and plotting your slow and painful death; his claws as sharp as knives.

A portal flashed before him, which caused the vampire to bow.

"My lord," he said respectfully. "Those blasted humans are growing stronger by the minute. Now all of them have unleashed their powers. It'll be impossible to stop them."

"Silence!" the soft, but booming, voice on the other side roared. "Even with this turn of events, Devimon, we can still destroy them. It is time for you to reveal yourself to the Destined Jedi."

"Yes, my lord," he replied, an evil smirk curling up his face. "Once they are destroyed, the whole Digital World will bow before us. At last we will have our revenge."

"You have learned well, Devimon," said the other voice. "They will be no match for you."

* * *

 _Infinity Mountain_

Walking along a mountain path on a pleasant sunny morning was a human-like lion that walked on two legs and wore black pants with a lightsaber hanging off of the waist. Its entire body was dominated by rippling muscle, with plenty of scars that told a treasure trove of battles escaped and won. Everyone on the island knew him simply as Leomon, a caretaker of the island. Lately, Leomon had noticed plenty of disturbances in the Force so he decided to investigate the cause of these disturbances.

As he walked, he noticed a black gear whizzing out of the corner of his eye. With a frown, he could sense the presence of another. He activated the lightsaber at his side with the speed of a cheetah as he rounded the corner of the mountain pass.

"Well, well, _well_ , Leomon," came a snarky voice. "We meet again at last."

The lion frowned as he gazed at the green being before him. His nose wrinkled at the foul smell radiating off of it.

"Ogremon," he growled. "I thought I smelled something foul."

The being called Ogremon was green all over. His mouth was wide open enough that all of his sharp white teeth could be seen and he had white hair. With black and red wristbands, kneepads and a black loincloth, he was the sort of Digimon that you did not want to mess with. Ogremon also had a lightsaber in his hand, a red one.

"What brings you here, you overgrown kitty cat?" Ogremon sneered.

"I have come to find the source of these black gears that are turning perfectly peaceful Digimon into monsters," replied Leomon. "And put a stop to it."

"Good luck with that. You'll never get past me. Leave now while you still have the chance."

Without warning, Ogremon charged towards Leomon with a loud cry. Sparks flew as their sabers clashed in a lock, each trying to prove their strength against the other. They broke apart and were about to resume their battle when a voice interrupted the two of them.

"Both of you stop!" came a booming voice. "Why not try fighting for me instead of each other?"

As the two of them looked around for the source of the voice, Leomon sensed dark energy near.

"I will never do that," he refused.

"Neither will I!" Ogremon echoed.

Devimon appeared instantaneously, causing the two of them to step back in shock at his appearance.

"Devimon!" Leomon growled, holding his lightsaber closer in preparation to attack. "I should have known."

"What do you need him for, Master?" Ogremon dropped to his knee in respect. "I can handle whatever you ask of me alone."

"Silence, Ogremon," Devimon snapped, which caused the ogre to bow his head further in silence. "This is not your typical job. The Destined Jedi are here on Infinity Mountain and my lord commands that they are to be destroyed."

Leomon gasped in shock. The Destined Jedi were on Infinity Mountain? He had been waiting for them to come for so long. It was tasked to him to find the Destined Jedi, that he take them to the being known as Gennai, so they could begin their training.

"I command that you wipe them out. All of them."

Leomon shook his mane fiercely. "You will never destroy the Destined Jedi so long as I am around, Devimon. I'll destroy you before you can even get to them."

He lifted his lightsaber in a threatening motion, ready to fight to his last breath if need be, but Devimon unleashed a torrent of Force lightning from his fingertips before he could do anything. Leomon's cries of pain echoed throughout the entire mountainside as the lightning surged through his flesh.

"I am not requesting your assistance, Leomon. I am _demanding_ it," the vampire said over the roar of pain. He waved a hand towards the fallen lion. "Now obey me and I will halt the attack."

The roars stopped as Leomon became rigid, his eyes glazed over.

"I will do whatever you say, my lord," he monotonously said.

True to his word, Devimon stopped the Force lightning by closing his hand into a fist, the smirk on his face growing bigger with each second.

* * *

 _Another Part of Infinity Mountain_

"You call that a map?!"

Tai frowned indignantly at Izzy. He had been making a map of the island so that they could keep track of where they were going and had been…er, what was _supposed_ to be a map. All that was on the piece of paper were a bunch of scribbles that made absolutely no sense.

"Well I can read it, and that's all that matters," he retorted.

Matt rolled his eyes. "You are unbelievable, man," he groaned.

"Shut up, Matt!"

A few feet away, Joe had sunk to his knees in despair. It didn't matter if they had a map with them because they were still lost and had no way of getting back home. Sora tried to get him to calm down, but it was like asking a goat to make cheese appear out of thin air.

She then felt the presence of another approaching them. She couldn't get a good read on what it could be because her abilities weren't fully developed yet but she had a bad feeling about it.

"Someone's coming," she alerted the others, activating her lightsaber, which caused them all to do the same. The only exception was TK, who still had yet to tap into his Force abilities.

"TK, get behind me," Matt ordered, and the young boy did so without a peep.

From the gap in the pathway from Joe and Mimi's battle with the horse earlier, the kids could see a humanoid lion standing across from them. It stood with a blank expression but the kids could feel a dark energy radiating off of it. The lion grabbed the lightsaber on its belt and activated it, revealing a bright green saber, before leaping to the other side towards the kids.

They took off without a moment to lose, not wanting to test the lion's strength for one second. As they ran, the map Tai had made went flying out of his pocket towards the lion; who proceeded to shred it into a million pieces.

"Aw man!" he cried.

"Leave the map, Tai," Matt urged him on. "Just keep going!"

Heading further into the mountain pass, the kids thought they were home free for a second until Ogremon made his presence known. He effectively cut them off with nowhere else to run with Leomon blocking the only other way out. The kids were trapped.

"Tai, what do we do?" Matt demanded, raising his lightsaber defensively in case of an attack. He urged TK to get behind a rock, where he would be safe.

"We don't have much of a choice," replied Tai. "We have to fight."

"If it's a fight you want, then a fight you shall get!" Ogremon cried as he and Leomon both charged forward to attack.

Thinking quickly on his feet, Tai cried out orders. "Sora, Mimi, Joe, you guys take care of that overgrown cat. Matt, Izzy, and I will handle ogre breath."

Nodding quickly, they split off into their attack groups. Tai and his two companions dodged a Force push attack from Ogremon before striking swiftly. Three lightsabers clashed on one red lightsaber, but Ogremon was able to handle it quite well. He quickly spun to knock away their lightsaber blades until a quick strike from Izzy locked them together, allowing Matt and Tai to come in with powerful strikes. Ogremon reacted quickly and used the Force to push them away.

On the opposite side of the path, Sora was carrying the load for the most part. She moved quickly to block one of Leomon's heavy strikes, being kept on the defensive as the lion breathlessly launched attack after attack. It took every bit of her strength to keep up with him but that soon would start to run low.

High above the path and out of sight, Devimon watched the events as they transpired.

' _These kids are stronger than I thought,'_ he observed. He then noticed TK hiding behind a rock. _'But why isn't the little one fighting?'_

Down below, Tai and Matt were able to get the upper hand on Ogremon by working together to draw him off. Matt blocked a low saber strike while Tai came high and landed a scratch across Ogremon's arm. On the other side, Joe and Mimi blocked attack after attack from Leomon before Sora landed a good slash across the leg.

Without explanation, boulders at the top of the mountain broke apart and tumbled down towards the kids. Acting quickly, Tai and Matt used the Force to freeze the boulders before tossing them off the mountain towards the valley below.

In a flash, the kids turned around to continue the battle, that is, until seeing their opponents were gone.

Joe spoke up. "Hold on. Where did the bad guys go?"

As they looked around, Leomon and Ogremon had disappeared without explanation. Could it have been because of the rockslide? Was it a distraction? None of the kids could figure it out.

"Maybe they fell off the cliff," Sora said with a shrug. "Who knows."

"Perhaps. But I think we should get off this mountain before anything else happens." Tai suggested.

"What do you think caused that?" Matt asked.

"No idea," shrugged Tai. "But I think that wasn't an accident."

"What do you mean, Tai?" Izzy inquired. "Are you saying that something caused the rocks to fall? It's simple geology: the pressure between the rocks caused a crack and thus they broke apart."

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Come on, let's get out of here."

Everyone else agreed and followed the path down the mountain. Devimon watched as they trekked on, his lips curling in an evil smile as he thought of a plan to destroy them.

' _I'll wait until they're tired and then I will swoop in for the kill. The Destined Jedi will be no more! They won't know what hit them.'_

* * *

After finally escaping Infinity Mountain, the kids trekked through a forest until the sun started to set on yet another day. They were so determined to escape the mountain that they did not take any breaks as they walked, which was now coming back to haunt them because they were beyond exhausted and needed rest.

Matt had to carry TK on his shoulders because the little boy was all tuckered out from walking for so long, even though he was just as tired. They needed to find a place to stay for the night because none of them wanted to sleep on the ground for a night. A nice, warm bed would be a welcomed change.

Just as it looked like they were going to have to find a place to camp for the night, they stumbled across what looked to be a grand chateau house but could easily be seen as a hotel or a mansion. It was European-style architecture with towers and brick finishes, something that the kids never saw that often in Japan. Happy that their luck had changed, they ran with the last bits of strength that they had towards it, happy to finally find something that seemed like home in this crazy world.

As they walked in, the place was entirely empty; Tai could not sense a single soul in the place, meaning it was entirely deserted. This did not stop the kids from going in because they were desperate enough for some comfort that they decided to disregard basic decency and take advantage of what the mansion had to offer—even if it meant that they were technically trespassing.

The kids had not enjoyed this kind of comfort since they had been home a few days ago; a big table full of food awaited them once they entered the dining room only to be decimated in seconds due to their empty stomachs demanding food; a bathhouse with divided baths for both sexes, which allowed them to bathe for the first time in a while; and finally, actual beds with fresh, clean sheets for them all to sleep in. It almost sounded too good to be true but the kids could not care less at the moment due to how comfortable they were.

"It almost feels like we're home again," Tai sighed contently as he shed his bathrobe to lie back under the covers.

Everyone else fell silent at the mention of home. It was going on five days, almost a week, since they were last at home. Tai's face fell sympathetically, knowing exactly what everyone was thinking for he too missed his family. He hoped that Kari was doing better since he last saw her and wondered if his parents were beginning to worry about him.

"Yeah, just like home," Matt sighed with a far-off tone.

TK had fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow but everyone could hear soft sobs coming from the young boy. It was truly a sad sight for the children to look at. How could a boy so young be expected to endure something like this? It almost sounded cruel.

"Come on, guys," said Sora, trying to sound positive even though she too felt miserable. "We just have to stay positive. We'll be home soon, we just have to believe that we will. There can be miracles when you believe."

Tai rolled his eyes. "Don't bring Prince of Egypt into this, Sora," he moaned.

"Well it seemed appropriate for me to use that," she pouted.

"Doesn't matter anyway," Joe said, ridding himself of his glasses before getting comfortable in the bed. "We don't know _if_ we're gonna find a way back home."

"Tomorrow is a new day, everyone," Sora yawned before settling down to sleep. "Good night."

"Good night," they all echoed.

* * *

Tai's eyes snapped open a couple of hours later, having felt the familiar urge to use the bathroom. Ever since he was little, he would sometimes take up to _four_ trips to the bathroom during the night. It was a problem that even his parents couldn't figure out, which led to many discussions about him seeing a doctor, but those plans ultimately never happened. It just became a part of his nightly routine.

He looked around, hearing nothing but the soft sounds of everyone's breathing, before carefully and quietly sneaking out of the room in nothing but his briefs and into the hallway. Something told him that he would need to keep his lightsaber handy so he made sure to carry it with him as he walked down the hall to the bathroom.

As he did what nature intended, giving him a sense of nirvana, he couldn't help but smell something foul overpowering the entire bathroom. For a second, he thought another one of the kids was also in the bathroom, but the Force energy did not feel familiar to him. Tai kept his lightsaber tightly grasped in his hand as he kicked the stall door in…only to find nothing except for a toilet.

' _That's odd,'_ he thought. _'I could have sworn that I sensed something in this cubicle.'_

As he turned away from the stall, Tai came face-to-face with Ogremon. He jumped back in surprise at Ogremon's close proximity to him, igniting his lightsaber in a flash, before locking the ogre creature in a saber lock.

"It's time I put you kids out for good," Ogremon cackled, trying to scare Tai into submission, but the boy was not having it.

"We'll see who takes out whom," he sneered before breaking their saber lock and using the Force to push Ogremon through the opposite wall. Tai then ran out of the bathroom before the ogre could recover from the attack.

"Guys!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. "Wake up! Ogremon is here!"

Before he could get any further, Leomon cut off his path, leaving Tai with nowhere to run. Knowing that the only thing to do was fight, Tai raised his saber in an aggressive manner to show that he was not afraid.

"Must destroy," the lion growled. "The children."

"What did we do to you?" Tai demanded, wanting to know what he and his friends did to set the lion off.

"You didn't do anything. It was me!" a loud voice cackled viciously. "I made him this way."

Tai looked around the landing and the entrance hall of the mansion down below for the source of the voice. It sounded far off, but also as though it whispered into his ear.

"Who was that?" he called out, masking his fear with a tone of aggressiveness. "Show yourself."

"Be mindful of your feelings, Destined Jedi," the voice sneered. "They betray you. I can smell your fear."

Tai hated to admit it, but the voice was right. He was terrified right now; not just for himself, but for his friends as well. Soon he heard the same laugh coming from his right, so he turned to get an idea of who it was that was taunting him.

What he saw almost caused him to wet his briefs: it was like he had come face-to-face with the devil himself. Devimon stood before him with an evil smirk dominating his features.

"Who the hell are you?" Tai demanded, pointing his lightsaber towards the newcomer.

"I am Devimon, supreme ruler over File Island," the Digimon replied. "And the time has come for you all to meet your end, Destined Jedi."

He chuckled. "Surely you have heard of the prophecy."

Tai nodded. "Sure, that the eight destined ones will rise…" he began to answer, but Devimon interrupted him.

"And rid the entire Digital World of all evil to bring balance to it," he finished. "And now I have come to make sure this prophecy does not come true."

He stretched out his hands, and before Tai knew it, the entire building disappeared in a manner of pixels and data. Once that was over, Tai stood in the middle of an empty shell of a building: the floor was a big gaping hole in front of him, the stairs and doors were all but gone, along with everything else. The cold night air caused goose bumps to run up his arms.

"What the..?" Tai cried, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm.

"Did you honestly think that there would be an abandoned mansion in the middle of a forest?" Devimon cackled once again. "The food, the bath, everything you saw; it was all an illusion of my creation."

Come to think of it, Tai's stomach felt empty, like he hadn't eaten all day. Nothing that they experienced was real. If he wasn't angry before, he was now.

"Ok, man. You're going down!" Tai narrowed his eyes in concentration before raising his lightsaber out in front of him.

Devimon laughed. "You and what army?"

"That would be us," Matt replied as he and the others joined Tai on the platform, all of them having some other form of clothing on their bodies besides their underclothes. One by one, they all activated their lightsabers. TK hid behind Matt, the only one still completely in his underwear due to him still trying to wake up.

Joe's face turned white at the sight of Devimon, on the border of peeing his pants again. "Tai, what is that?"

"His name's Devimon, and he says he's come to destroy us."

Devimon smirked in pleasure. This was going to be easier than he thought. Even though they all acted confident, he could sense the apprehension and fear that was coursing through them, especially the little one. He would have to take care of him last so that he would never be able to tap into his abilities.

"Then come and fight, if you dare," he challenged, pulling a lightsaber from his side and igniting it, the bright red blade filling the night sky with color and illuminating his face.

Tai and the others stood ready as they thought up a plan of attack. A full frontal assault seemed like a good idea, but was completely predictable.

"We'll take him together, Tai," Matt whispered to their leader. "You and Izzy go in on the right…"

But Tai was having none of it. "I'm taking him now!" he shook his head before charging with a loud cry without giving Matt a chance to stop him.

"Tai, no!"

Devimon saw the attack coming from a mile away.

' _All too easy,'_ he grinned as he unleashed Force lightning on Tai, catching him off guard before he could have a chance to block it. Tai yelled out in agonizing pain as the lightning coursed through his young body before being thrown into a column by Devimon, knocking him out cold. Some stray lightning bolts surged through him, only adding to his misery.

"You idiot," Matt muttered before raising his saber defensively, realizing it was up to him now to keep everyone safe.

"As you see, my power is beyond any of you," Devimon taunted as he faced the others.

"Matt, we can't beat him," Joe tried to talk some sense into Matt before they all ended up like Tai had. "He's too powerful."

Matt glared at him. "Joe, as long as we work together, we'll be fine," he replied.

Giving him a nod, the two of them charged towards Devimon. Their lightsabers clashed in a swift array of color, the two of them trying to overpower him with their numbers, but the vampire swiftly blocked each attack with ease.

Matt hacked at Devimon, trying to get one of his attacks to go through, but the Digimon's defense was as strong as his striking. He was a wholly sound duelist while the two boys were just merely running off of what they knew from watching the Star Wars movies.

Soon their duel merged into another saber lock, with Devimon holding his lightsaber horizontally to keep the two boys' lightsabers at bay. He pushed his saber forward, causing them to give slightly. He had found his opening.

He broke the saber lock to swiftly slash Matt across the upper arm and then do the same to Joe's leg. The two boys cried out in pain as they fell to the ground, gritting their teeth as the searing pain from the laser sword coursed through their bodies.

Devimon then turned his attention to Izzy and the girls, simply using the Force to push them into the wall behind them, leaving TK alone and defenseless. If he could destroy him, then that was one less Destined Jedi he would have to deal with.

"Now it is time for me to destroy _you,_ my young friend," he smiled wickedly as he approached TK slowly. "Then I will kill the rest of you one at a time."

"TK!" Matt cried, before gritting his teeth in pain from the slash on his arm again. He felt even more helpless than his brother surely felt because he couldn't do anything to stop it.

TK was too paralyzed with fear to do anything as Devimon approached him, his lightsaber glowing menacingly. He didn't know what else to do other than cry his little heart out, tears falling down his face like a waterfall. If only he hadn't been so weak and could tap into his abilities, then maybe he would have had a fighting chance.

Within moments, Devimon was right on him, which caused him to cry even louder. It certainly irked Devimon, but not enough to stop him from doing what he was about to do.

"Time to say goodbye, young one," his wicked grin grew even wider before raising his saber to deliver the final blow. TK closed his eyes in fear, which allowed more tears to stream down his face, waiting for the inevitable.

As Devimon brought his saber down, another one activated nearby. Instead of the sound of laser meeting flesh, the sound of two lightsabers clashing could be heard. TK hesitantly opened his eyes to see a green lightsaber just above him blocking Devimon's. For a moment, he thought it was his brother's. As he looked to his left, he saw Leomon was the one holding the saber.

"You fool!" Devimon hissed at the lion. "I command you to let me destroy him!"

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let that happen, Devimon," Leomon replied, having finally been rid of the mind trick that kept him under Devimon's control. "You will not harm the Destined Jedi anymore!"

The two broke their saber lock, which allowed Leomon to kick Devimon down to the bottom floor. The lion leapt down from the top floor and the two clashed ferociously, their lightsabers mere blurs as they battled for control of the duel.

Soon, Leomon gained control, landing one strike that knocked Devimon's lightsaber-wielding hand to the side before slicing the blade into two pieces. He then pointed his lightsaber at Devimon's throat.

"Give up, Devimon," he growled, his white teeth bared. "It's over."

"Ha!" Devimon laughed defiantly. "You may think this is over, Leomon, but it's not. I will wait for you all to come back so I can finish you off myself!"

He then disappeared right before Leomon's eyes with an evil laugh that echoed throughout the ruins.

Leomon growled quietly in his disappointment at not managing to destroy Devimon. Deciding the children were more important, he turned around to leap back up onto the landing, where the children were slowly recovering from that experience. Matt and Joe clutched their wounded limbs with gritted teeth, Izzy and the girls slowly recovered from being pushed into the wall, and Tai limped along towards the others as he recovered from the Force lightning.

"You children are lucky to be alive," said Leomon, sitting in a lotus position. "To take on Devimon with no proper training and come out alive takes sheer dumb luck to accomplish."

Joe slowly sat up so he could reach for the first aid kit in the emergency bag that they still had. He tended to Matt's arm first by wrapping it in bandages, tightly enough that it applied pressure but not enough to cut off circulation to his arm, before moving on to his own leg.

"How do we defeat _that_?" he asked with a defeated tone as he wrapped a bandage around it. "It's hopeless! We can't win."

"Joe, stop!" Sora shouted, not wanting to hear another one of his monologues on how hopeless it was for them. "You listen here: we just have to stay…"

"No, you listen to me, Sora!" Joe shouted back. "We almost got killed here tonight, so I think we are beyond trying to stay positive! It's time to be realistic!"

"Stop it!" TK yelled at the top of his lungs. Everyone looked at him with a look of shock, not expecting him to do something like that. "Arguing among ourselves is not going to solve anything."

Leomon nodded. "He's right. Only Gennai can help you now."

Aside from Mimi, everyone else cocked an eyebrow in confusion at the name. Having heard it before, she looked on expectantly, hoping to attach a face to it.

"Who's Gennai?" Izzy asked, putting on his clothes.

"And how can he help _us_?" Tai put his two cents in, putting his clothes and his goggles back on. "We're just a bunch of kids who were at summer camp until we somehow ended up here. We're nothing special."

"That is where you are wrong," Leomon shook his mane. "You children are special. The seven of you have been said to be the Destined Jedi, and it is my job to take you to Gennai so you can begin your training. If you want to defeat Devimon, you must learn everything about the Force and how to channel it properly. Gennai can show you the way."

"Wait, hold on," Tai couldn't wrap his head around what the lion was saying. "You're telling us that all of this: the Force, Jedi, the Sith, and epic battles to save the world, is real?"

"It just doesn't make any sense to me how that can be possible," Izzy said. "I mean, the things we have seen over the last few days have been real, but I just can't wrap my head around it."

Leomon sighed deeply, realizing that this was going to be a lot harder than he previously thought; so many questions and so little time at their disposal.

"Children," he began. "Your coming has been ordained for eons. I don't know why, Gennai doesn't know why, and certainly you do not know why. Many eons ago, a great darkness came to our world and almost destroyed it. Luckily it was because of humans like you, the Destined Jedi, that our world was able to be free." Leomon's tone then grew darker. "Now that this evil has come back even stronger than before, Gennai instructed me to find the next group of Destined Jedi to save our world and bring them to him so he could begin their training."

The kids watched in awed silence. This was more interesting than any of their history classes back at home. Knowing he had their full attention, Leomon continued.

"And now the burden of being the Destined Jedi falls to you. For the sake of not just our world, but your own as well, it is time for you to accept your destiny."

He was met with blank stares. The kids could not believe what they were hearing, it all sounded straight out of a movie. It was just too unbelievable to be true.

"I think you've made a mistake," said Joe. "We're not heroes!"

"We're just seven normal kids from Odaiba," added Sora. "The only thing we ever had to worry about was the train being on time and then, poof, we're some special group of kids who are supposed to save the world."

"This is all just too unbelievable," Matt echoed. "Why us? Why were we chosen to bear this responsibility, Leomon?"

By now, they all were sitting in a semi-circle fully clothed. The cold night air blew across the ruins, chilling the children even more as Leomon thought of a good explanation to give them.

Finally, with a click of his tongue against his fangs, he answered. "Because of what is in your hearts. All seven of you personify one characteristic that is embodied in your lightsaber crystals. Once you bond with them, it can unlock great power."

"And how do we do that?" Tai asked, unsure of what he was saying.

"Through the symbols on your arms," Leomon replied, causing the kids to look at the symbols on their arms inquisitively. "Those symbols are what connects you to the Force. Through bonding with your saber crystals, which are in the same shape as the symbols, you can unlock greater power than you ever imagined. In order to do that, you must learn how to handle that kind of power when the time comes, hence why I must take you to Gennai."

Tai looked to his friends, unsure of what to say. He hoped someone else in the circle could offer a more plausible reason to all of this, but the only response was the cold wind that seemed to pick up in speed. Shivering, Tai shook his hands, rapidly rubbing them along his arms to keep warm. Not to mention that this was insane. One minute they're fighting against Leomon, and now they were expected to trust him and this Gennai guy?

This was nuts, or a trap.

Before Tai could give his decision, Mimi spoke in a meek manner.

"Um, Tai? I heard a voice earlier, and, well, they said something about a 'Gennai'. And, honestly, this person might have a warm place for us to sleep..."

With this new information revealed, desperation dripped from everyone's eyes as they all turned to Tai, awaiting his decision. What were the chances of this being another trap with more illusions of food and a warm bed? Not to mention he was starving. God, he was starving. Though it would play in their favor to find out how to tap further into their potential powers, if it was some kind of trap, at least they could fight their way out.

Seeing as they had no other choice, Tai answered for everyone. "Alright, we'll play your game," he said. "Take us to him."

* * *

 **Wow! A lot happening here. The kids get a long winded explanation on the legend of the Destined Jedi, get their butts handed to them, and now they are being whisked away to begin their training. So much to digest and get ready for. Stay tuned for the next chapter of The Destined Jedi.**

 **It was an easy chapter to write for the most part until we got to the end, so I want to thank Ren for helping me get through that. I know it was a bit frustrating but we did it ;-). Time to answer some reviews.**

 **Emperor Serperior: I think that answers your question.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: I will be introducing saber styles when they all begin their training. They're not going to know the technical stuff behind it right away so it's good to slowly build that. And you were absolutely correct ;-)**

 **Music Chick (aka Ren): We shall have to see whether he does XD**

 **honter11: I'm glad you like it. Hope to see you review some more. *Sweat drop* We will have to see about that in the future.**

 **I might take a couple days to re-charge and make sure I know what I want to do with their training since now we are in original material territory (finally!). Keep reviewing and subscribing to the story because this is just the beginning. Catch y'all later.**


	9. The House Under The Lake

**Here we are with yet another chapter. After getting their butts handed to them by Devimon in the last chapter, the kids look to lick their wounds at Gennai's house. Who is Gennai and how will he help them? Find out here.**

 **Let's answer some reviews:**

 **honter11: We'll see about that. Glad to know you are enjoying the story.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: I plan to keep going.**

 **Music Chick: You haven't seen nothing yet. There is a lot more to come. Better strap yourself in ;-)**

 **I get more and more encouraged by how much traction this story is getting every time I check. Thank you all so much for staying with me thus far, you're the best. I won't keep you waiting any more. Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Desert_

 _The Continent of Server_

 _Digital World_

Leomon led the kids across the dark desert as they continued their journey to Gennai's house. By now, it was almost 3 o'clock in the morning. All of them were tired and the cold air was not getting any better.

' _Maybe Mom was right,'_ Tai thought as he shivered from the cold. _'I should have worn a sweater to camp.'_

The rest of the crew walked quietly, the only sounds in the desert being the wind and their own footsteps. In order to leave File Island, they had to go across a vast sea, which did not sit well with Joe at all. On a makeshift raft that they had made, he spent most of the time throwing up and being miserable due to his seasickness. Leomon would tell them some legends of the Digital World as they drifted along to help pass the time, such as one about how the "Four Holy Beasts", or the sovereigns as Leomon referred to them as, came to be and how they destroyed the evil that first threatened the Digital World. The kids found it incredibly fascinating.

After almost two hours at sea, the group finally reached the continent of Server.

The kids had no idea what would await them when they reached Gennai's house. What if this Gennai was not as advertised and he turned out to be a letdown?

They could not handle any more disappointment than they had gotten already, which was quite a lengthy list: No other humans besides them, no hotels or inns (and the one they had found turned out to be a fake), and worst of all, not a glimmer of an idea how they would get home.

The kids were counting two strikes at this point. If Gennai turned out to be the third, they would resign their fate to forever being stuck in the Digital World, never to see their families again.

"Are you all ok?" Leomon asked, breaking the thick silence. "You've been pretty quiet since we got here."

"Yeah, we're fine, Leomon," Tai answered with a yawn. "We're all just tired. How much further do we have to go?"

"Just a little longer," replied the lion. "Be patient."

The kids all groaned. They were tired of being patient, they wanted results now, but continued walking nonetheless. If it was worth all the suffering they had to endure, then it was worth doing.

"But I'm tired!" Mimi whined, looking as though she was ready to drop at any second.

"Good things come to those who wait, Mimi," Sora smiled with an assuring tone. "It'll be alright."

"How do you know?"

Sora went tight-lipped, obviously having no justification for her statement. Mimi rolled her eyes and continued to walk along miserably.

"You know what," Leomon said from up front. "Let's just go back to being quiet again."

"No argument there," replied Matt, giving a yawn. He carried a sleeping TK on his back, hearing the boy's soft breathing with every step that he took. The slash on his arm had dulled down just a bit, but the pain was still noticeable. Hopefully Gennai could heal he and Joe once they got to his house.

At the back of the pack, Joe limped along as the wound on his leg made putting weight on it virtually impossible. It sent a sharp pain through his entire leg every time he took a step, which caused him to grit his teeth and inhale sharply in pain. In hindsight, he wasn't sure what he was thinking charging in with Matt to battle Devimon.

' _That definitely wasn't my best decision,'_ he thought as he stayed step for step with the group. Thankfully, Leomon had the consideration to go at a slow pace so that he could keep up.

Within the next half hour, the group had finally reached the end of the vast desert and into a thick forest. Bald cypress trees, like from pictures they had seen of the bayou in New Orleans, made up the entire forest. If they wanted to know what it was like to visit a swamp, they had just experienced it.

Just to be safe, they all watched their step as they walked along, not wanting to step into (or _onto)_ something they shouldn't. The last thing they wanted at this juncture was to run, especially since they were all tired as could be from the very little sleep they had gotten at the fake mansion.

Occasionally someone would step on a twig and give everyone a brief scare from the sound, but besides that it was a solemn walk through the forest. If it were the real world, the kids would have expected to hear crickets chirping and owls hooting into the night, but it was as silent as a tomb. Moonlight barely crept through the thick tree limbs, making it seem darker than it truly was.

Leomon raised a hand up, signaling the kids to stop. Fear slowly built up within them, wondering if Leomon had sensed something coming their way.

"What is it, Leomon?" Tai whispered quietly, not wanting to alert whatever may be near that they were there. "Do you sense something?"

"We're here," the lion replied. "You have nothing to fear, children."

They all gave a collective sigh of relief, being high-strung enough with the lack of sleep and from their experience with Devimon. The kids looked out at the lake in front of them, moonlight reflecting off of the water and giving them an idea of the grand scale of the lake. Once they all escaped the tree line, they started looking around the lakeshore for something that looked like a house.

"So…where's Gennai's place?" Matt asked the obvious question, not finding anything along the shore.

"Is this a trick?" Joe demanded, feeling like Leomon was playing a prank on them.

"No, it's not a trick," Leomon replied, sensing their feelings of confusion. "Gennai's house is under this lake. We'll be going underwater, ok?"

The idea of swimming did not sit well with Mimi.

"My hat! My beautiful hat!" she shrieked, clutching her prized possession in her gloved hands.

Sora was not having any of it. Normally, she would have been able to keep her patience but she was so sleep-deprived that she couldn't control herself.

"Mimi, now is not the time!" she growled.

"Sorry," Mimi apologized, her head hanging low in contrition.

Izzy finally spoke up for the first time since they got there. He had been quietly observing the continent they had landed on throughout their journey, sensing a lot of Force energy radiating from it; both from the light and dark. The darkness he sensed caused him to feel a deeper chill than the cold desert wind had brought him. If he had to guess, the Force energy was a delicate balance but darkness was slowly starting to take over.

"If I had to guess, I would say that Gennai lives under the lake. Probably doesn't want the wrong person to find him."

Leomon nodded. "You are correct, Izzy. Gennai lives under the lake so that the forces of darkness cannot locate him. They try to so they can destroy him but he is always one step ahead of them."

He then announced to everyone else, "We'll be going underwater. Fair warning though, Gennai is not the most gracious of hosts."

"Don't worry," Matt remarked snidely. "This hasn't been our day for gracious hosts."

A blinding light suddenly pierced the night sky, causing the kids to shield their eyes due to the brightness and suddenness of the light. If there were any creatures asleep along the lake or in the forest, they would for sure be woken up by the sheer brightness of it.

The water parted like the Red Sea in front of the group to reveal a staircase leading down into the lake. The kids were still in shock by this turn of events that they didn't notice Leomon already starting to walk down the stairs.

"Well, come on," he said with a wave of his hand. "Time's a-wastin', kids."

With a quick nod, they all followed him down, feeling like the Hebrews being led through the Red Sea by Moses. The stairway seemed never-ending because the kids never saw a definitive bottom yet.

"Does anyone else find this completely crazy?" Joe asked, noticing all of the aquatic life swimming beside them.

"It's certainly a weird way to live," Matt nodded before gesturing to the sleeping boy on his back. "But let's just hope that there's a warm bed for us to sleep in, especially for this guy right here."

Descending down a few more steps, Leomon stopped the group once again. A traditional Japanese mansion appeared out of a pink fog after waiting for a few moments. The property was divided between three separate buildings, the tiles on each roof were a dark purple color, and a Japanese garden smack in the middle.

Filled with excitement, they all ran down the last few flights of stairs to reach the garden, hopeful to find this mysterious Gennai and finally attach a face to the name.

Bonsai trees were spread all around the garden, with a pond that was surprisingly full of koi fish swimming around. The kids were thankful to find something that was familiar to them, almost wanting to bow to the ground and pray to whatever God they worshipped in the Digi-World.

Leomon began walking towards the main building of the house.

"Sit tight for a second, kids," he instructed. "I'm going to go let Gennai know we are here."

* * *

The kids sat and waited for what felt like an hour, wondering if they had come at a bad time and Gennai wasn't going to accept them inside for the night. If it came to that, there was going to be a riot because the group was tired, hungry, and cold beyond comprehension. They were beyond taking 'no' for an answer at this point.

Thankfully, the door slid open and Leomon came out before they could plot how they were going to get inside. The kids looked on hopefully in preparation of what he was about to tell them.

"You may go on inside," he gestured with his hand. "Gennai is expecting you."

They could not have moved fast enough, almost running Leomon over trying to get inside, the sound of a warm bed and good breakfast in the morning calling their names like a siren call. It was too much for them to resist any longer.

The group removed their shoes in the customary way before entering someone's home and stepped onto the tatami mats that covered the floor in the entrance hall. All around, the inside was small, even by Japanese standards: The hallways were narrow and there was not really a lot of space, just in the entrance hall.

As they moved further into the house, they saw a much bigger living room than they expected, with a kotatsu table in the middle of the room. Through the windows on the other side, they saw fish swimming, which reminded them that they were under a lake rather than in the real world.

"Good evening, children," a gravely, male voice pierced the air. "Or is it 'good morning'? I'm not sure. I've lost track of time."

The group turned to see a little old man sitting in a meditative position with his back turned to them.

Tai spoke first. "Are you Gennai?" he asked.

The old man nodded. "Yes I am, and you children are the Destined Jedi. I can feel how strong the Force is in each of you. Beds are laid out, and ready for you. We will talk more in the morning over breakfast. Second door, down the hallway, to your right."

"Thank you, sir," they all bowed in appreciation before running down the hallway like a stampede of wild animals.

Opening the door, they saw seven futons laid out on the floor. They all fell fast asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

* * *

The crowing of a rooster awoke the kids the next morning. How a rooster crowing was possible here was beyond them, but they had learned by now that nothing made sense in the Digital World.

They got up, and like good guests, folded up their futons neatly before placing them in a nearby closet. The smell of food beckoned them to the living room, where the kotatsu table was. Their mouths watered as they saw a large spread on the table; miso soup, rice, grilled mackerel, even orange juice sat out. They had not had a home cooked meal since they had been in the Digital World, so this was a welcomed change.

"Good morning," said Gennai, seated at the head of the table expectantly. "I trust you children slept well?"

"Yes," they all nodded in agreement.

"The food looks great," Tai licked his lips, going on almost 24 hours since he last ate something real and didn't want to wait another second.

The kids took their seats on cushions that lined around the table, feeling more content than they had felt in a long time. They then clapped their hands together to give thanks.

"Itadakimasu!" they recited before digging into the food. Not wanting to seem like slobs in front of their host, they ate with restraint, although they wanted to tear into the food like a pack of wolves.

Tai, on the other hand, stuffed his face like there was no tomorrow. Anything he came in contact with disappeared down his gullet in a matter of seconds. The others glared at him admonishingly, but he was too hungry to care.

"Is there any more?" he asked after downing his third piece of mackerel and two bowls of rice.

Sora looked at him with disgust. "Tai, you're such a pig."

'Oh, you're one to talk," he retorted. "Who was it that couldn't get enough of my mom's vanilla crème pie last Christmas, and threw up for half an hour? Because it certainly wasn't me."

"Why, you!" Sora was about to use the Force against him, but remembered that her symbol had yet to glow.

"Ok, ok, that's enough," said Gennai, hoping to break things up. "No need to worry, Tai. There is plenty of mackerel to eat and then some. Have as much as you want."

Not needing to be told twice, Tai took a couple more pieces from the bowl and put them on his plate. Before he could start chowing down again, his chopsticks stopped in mid-air.

"Wait, how did you know my name?" he asked. "I don't believe we've introduced ourselves yet."

"No need," Gennai replied with a dismissive wave, getting up from the table and pacing around the room steadily. "I know everything I need to know about all of you. You were chosen to fulfill the prophecy of the Destined Jedi, but one problem still remains."

"And what's that?" asked Joe, taking a sip of the orange juice in front of him.

"You kids need training," was the reply. "You must learn how to discipline your minds and control your emotions, as well as be excellent swordsmen if you hope to save not just the Digital World, but your own as well."

Their silence gave Gennai the hint to continue.

"Now, I watched all of you battle, and I am impressed by what you can do with the little training that you have," he then eyed Matt and Joe's bandages. "However, it was not enough to defeat Devimon. If you want to defeat him, and eradicate this evil from the Digital World, you will need to learn everything there is to know about wielding the lightsaber."

"An elegant weapon from a more civilized age, wouldn't you say?" Matt joked, earning a laugh from TK, who sat next to him. Gennai, however, gave him a blank look.

"As I was saying," he continued. "The evil is slowly taking over; it will never rest and it will never stop until both worlds are completely covered in darkness. To train a Jedi takes years; you all have two weeks, so learn quickly. That is my only request."

"Why just two weeks?" Sora asked, leaning forward to show she was paying attention.

"Because I couldn't reach an agreement with the darkness to hold out for a longer amount of time," was the sarcastic reply before it turned serious. "The sooner you all can get back out there, the better for the rest of us. Also, it'll allow you to find the eighth Destined Jedi before the forces of darkness do. What do you say, kids, are you up for the challenge?"

After that long, winded explanation, the kids had lost their appetite. The gravity of the situation pressed a metaphorical weight down onto their shoulders, giving them a sense of dread. What if they messed up? They couldn't bear the thought of having everything they love and hold dear being destroyed.

Tai then spoke for everyone as he stood up from the table.

"If this is the only way, then we don't have much choice. Let's do it!" he pumped a fist in the air.

' _Be careful what you wish for,'_ Gennai softly smirked to himself, thinking of what lay ahead for the group of kids.

* * *

 _Later that day_

Gennai had called Izzy inside as everyone else around him worked. They had been given a long list of chores that needed to be done around the property, which took up the rest of the morning into the afternoon.

Several of the tasks included feeding the koi fish, trimming the bonsai trees, sweeping the floor, scrubbing it, etc. The kids did not know what this had to do with learning to be the Destined Jedi, but didn't want Gennai to change his mind about training them, so they went along with it.

"Izzy, I want to show you something," said the old man before leading Izzy to another building on the property. The computer genius followed without question, his natural curiosity getting the better of him.

Sliding open the door, Izzy's mouth gaped open.

"Prodigious!" he exclaimed in awe of what he saw. "This is amazing!"

A wall covered in the same manuscript he saw in the battery back at the factory stood before the two of them. Along with the strange characters, Izzy could see what looked like animals being depicted, with the characters underneath the renderings. There was a carving of a small Tyrannosaurus Rex, a wolf-like creature with a horn sticking out of its head; a ladybug; a bird; a plant-like creature; and what looked like a seal with a Mohawk. There was also a small guinea pig-like creature and a cat.

"What are these?" Izzy asked, his jaw becoming slack.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," replied Gennai. "I am old and have too much to do to figure this out on my own. You're a smart kid, so I thought you'd be the one to decipher this digicode."

"So that's what this manuscript is called," Izzy's eyes lit up in realization. "Digicode..interesting. I promise that I will do my best."

"Very good."

* * *

 **Will they succeed in their training, or will they prove unworthy of the title of "The Destined Jedi"? Will Izzy be able to decipher the digicode? Find out on the next chapter of The Destined Jedi.**

 **This chapter was a bit of a bridge between arcs, so it was considerably shorter than the last three chapters, but I'm sure it was still good. The training arc should take up several more chapters, with plenty of heart-stopping action.**

 **By the way, 'itadakimasu' is the Japanese way of saying grace before they eat, so I wanted to throw in that little cultural reference.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read the story. See you all next week, though I am almost done with chapter 10 so we will see if I decide to post it up sooner ;-) Ciao.**


	10. Memories In The Dark

**Here we are with chapter 10. Hope you guys enjoy this one because the training begins…now.**

 **Let's answer some quick reviews before we start:**

 **honter11: You'll find out in just a moment here.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yup. Though I already know what your guess is. Stay tuned for more, my friend.**

 **Music Chick: I know, right? It's murder having to be up and moving at that time, but the kids had to make their way to safety somehow after being soundly defeated by Devimon. Yup…until the inevitable moment he gets destroyed. Glad you like how I'm developing them.**

 **Now on with the show.**

* * *

A loud yawn escaped Izzy's mouth as he rubbed his eyes in exhaustion. He didn't know what time it was, nor did he care. He was trying to decipher at least one part of the digicode on the mural that Gennai had showed him earlier in the day, but that was far easier said than done, even for a genius like him. He had been working on it since dinner had finished, and not had any luck so far.

It had to be past midnight by now because his roommates were fast asleep, his only companion being a small reading lamp that he kept at a low light so as not to disturb the others. Gennai told them that they would begin their training the next day, so Izzy felt an urgency to decipher one section of the digicode before then.

 _'Ok,'_ he thought as he scanned the glyphs on his computer, the ladybug drawing his attention at the moment. _'Let's find out who you are, my friend.'_

His fingers typed away like mad, becoming a blur in a matter of seconds. He zoomed in closer on the manuscript below the carving of the bug until it took up the whole screen. There were letters just below the carving, and then another line of them just below that. He decided to do that line first.

It took a matter of seconds for the digicode to convert into kanji symbols, which allowed him to read easier.

"The Digimon of Knowledge," he read before chuckling to himself. "Sounds like my kind of Digimon. Now to find out what your name is."

This one proved to take even longer: Some letters were lost in translation and didn't come out right when converted into kanji, but Izzy was determined to solve this mystery. If it could help them, then he was determined to find out what it was.

Finally, he found the right combination of letters to use, after realizing he had misspelled some of them. Two seconds later, the name came out in clear kanji.

Tentomon.

Upon closer examination, Izzy saw something that looked like the symbol he had on his arm. Having a good idea of what it meant, he rolled up his right sleeve to reveal it. Comparing the two, he concluded they were the exact same.

 _'Which, if I am correct, means that this creature and I must be connected in some way.'_

"Izzy, come to bed," Sora whispered with a soft yawn, sitting up from her futon. "It's late, and you need your sleep for tomorrow."

Izzy let out a yawn of his own. He wanted to keep working, but knew that Sora was right. Tomorrow was their first day of training, and he wanted to be ready for it.

"Alright," he whispered back. "I'll be there in a moment. Go back to sleep."

She nodded and laid back down on the bed.

He closed his laptop, and turned off the reading light before settling down for sleep, wondering what awaited them all when the sun came up.

* * *

The rooster crowing woke them all up at dawn, just like the day before.

Getting up and putting their futons away, the kids walked into the living room for breakfast, nervous and excited for what awaited them on their first day of training. Knowing they only had two weeks to learn as much as they could gave them all the motivation they needed to take these lessons seriously.

"Itadakimasu!"

Breakfast remained a quiet affair for the most part; Tai didn't stuff his face like he hadn't eaten in weeks today, and bowls of food were passed around wordlessly. The only sound made was the clattering of chopsticks against the bowls.

Izzy's mind wandered back to last night. What if the other carvings on the wall had to do with each of them? He and the one called Tentomon were definitely connected in some way, but who were the rest connected to? It was something he wanted to figure out as he deciphered the rest of the wall.

"So what'd you find out last night, Izzy?" asked Sora, who was seated across from him at the table. "You were working pretty late last night, so it must have been important."

Izzy took a sip of juice before answering her.

"I think I have stumbled upon something that has to do with us. Gennai showed me this mural that had eight creatures carved into it yesterday and asked me to translate the writing. I managed to decipher one last night. My theory is this: These carvings represent real life creatures that are connected to all of us. I haven't gotten much further than that, but I have a feeling there is more to this than meets the eye."

Before anyone could ask him a question, the door slid open to reveal Gennai standing before them. Immediately, their conversation came to a close before standing at attention.

"Good morning, children," the old man greeted. "I trust you all slept well?"

They nodded.

"Good, because today we are going on a little field trip."

If this were an anime, a big question mark would be hanging over the kids' heads.

"A field trip?" Tai replied. "To where?"

Gennai smiled. "You'll find out. Get ready to head out in ten minutes. I'll meet you in the garden."

He slid the door closed behind him as he left the room, leaving the group of kids with more questions than answers.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Matt said.

"I'm with you there," Joe agreed, nodding his head. "What if he's taking us to some remote corner of the continent and then leaving us there?"

Tai scoffed. "Why would he do that?"

"You'd be surprised."

* * *

It took all of ten minutes for them to get their clothes on and meet Gennai in the garden. Because of their speculation, the kids were unsure just what Gennai had in store for them. What if he was already throwing them to the metaphorical wolves as their first test? They weren't sure if they were ready for something like that.

"Now that you all are here, let's get going," said Gennai as he led them out of the garden and to the staircase that led to the surface.

Joe looked at the stairs with a wry expression.

"Great," he said dryly. "More walking. Just what the doctor ordered!"

"We don't have time for jokes, Joe," Gennai admonished with a dismissive tone. "Now let's get moving while we still have daylight."

Just like when they first came, the water parted to allow them passage up the staircase. Soon, they were back on the surface with the sun beating down on them. Even though it was morning, the sun was boiling. Sweat doted each kid's brow as they stepped onto the lakeshore. Gennai then led the group to the tree line as they began their journey towards their destination.

While they were walking, Tai sensed a strong amount of Force energy coming from ahead of them. If what his senses were telling him was correct, then they were heading towards a place that was flowing with Force energy.

"Can you feel it?" Matt's voice pierced his concentration.

Tai nodded. "Yeah. I have a feeling where we're going is strong in the Force." He then raised his voice so Gennai could hear him. "Is that where we're going, Gennai?"

The old man chuckled. "I knew you would figure it out at some point. You'll find out what it is soon, now keep up."

The two boys went wide-eyed. He was more than a few yards ahead of them, and watching with an amused expression.

"For an old man, he's pretty spry," Mimi said with genuine surprise.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Izzy replied with a nod before they all ran to catch up with Gennai.

Through winding trails, more thick forests, and dry desert, the group continued their journey for another hour until Gennai finally stopped in front of a hole in the mountainside. A mysterious warmth flowed through each of the kids as they stared at the cave, like it was calling them inside.

"This is it?" Mimi asked, unimpressed by what she was seeing. "A dark, damp, creepy cave? That's what you dragged us out here for?"

"Ah, but this is not just any dark, damp, creepy cave," said Gennai, like a teacher trying to keep their students interested in a lesson. "This cave is home for every single being in the Digital World. It is through this cave that the Force flows through every part of our world."

They walked in, the sounds of water dripping from stalactites deep within the cave echoing and darkness blanketing their vision. Once they were inside, and their eyes adjusted to the darkness, giant crystals glowing a bright blue color appeared before them.

"Welcome to your first lesson," Gennai began. "In order to harness your abilities, you must learn how to feel the Force and be aware of it at all times. For that, I would like you all to sit and meditate."

An imaginary question mark went over the kids' heads. Even though they grew up in Japan, they never really meditated before, so it was a weird request for them to process.

Gennai noticed their blank stares.

"Don't tell me you kids have never meditated before."

They all shook their heads in confirmation. His face fell. This was going to be harder than he anticipated.

"Ok," he sighed. "Just sit down in a lotus position. That should be no problem for you."

The young Jedi in training sat down as instructed, waiting for their next order attentively.

"Now close your eyes."

That order was also followed.

"Relax and breathe in and out softly. Let your mind go blank."

The feeling was incredible; almost as if something was swimming its way through their bloodstream and bringing extra energy to their bodies. Maybe it was the strength of the Force in the cave, but the kids were more balanced than at any other time they had been in this world.

While everyone else relaxed, Tai was still as restless as he normally was. He didn't like things to be quiet and serene, preferring chaos at any given moment. At least something was always happening, unlike now where it was too quiet for his taste.

With a sharp growl, he opened his eyes.

"This is stupid!" he cried. "What does meditating have to do with any of this?"

"Tai!" Sora chastised, her eyes still closed.

"It's ok," Gennai dismissed before glaring at the offending student. "Let him be restless, for he will soon discover the power of the cave."

The tone of his voice sent a shiver down Tai's spine.

"Why do I not have a good feeling about that?" he asked meekly.

"You'll know soon enough," the old man smiled. "Now meditate."

"But-"

"No buts! Meditate!"

Realizing he was not going to win this fight, Tai complied, closing his eyes, and drawing his focus inward. It was like the entire universe was flowing through him; every tree, every creature, every flower, and their counterpart in this world contrasted each other in a circle of life that was never-ending.

Gennai watched as each of their symbols started to flicker with light, showing their meditation was starting to work. Orange, blue, green, purple, grey. Out of the corner of his eye, a glimmer of yellow light coming from TK's symbol caught his attention. The only one to not glow was Sora's.

As a Force-sensitive being himself, he could sense her thoughts. She tried to put off a peaceful demeanor, but it betrayed her because he could sense the conflict within her. Something from her past was holding her back from finding the inner peace that was needed in order to be a good Jedi. Eventually, he was going to find out what it was.

"Reach out," he would encourage for the next while as the kids continued their meditation. "Feel the Force flow through you. Sense it in everything that surrounds you. The Force is not just here, but in all living things."

Slowly, Gennai saw Sora's symbol begin to flicker with a red light. His encouragement seemed to be getting through to her.

Soon, Gennai instructed them to open their eyes. It took a second for them all to collect their bearings due to their eyes being closed for quite some time, groggy like they had just woken up from a nap.

"Now you all see what I mean when I say that the Force keeps the balance of all life as we know it," he explained. "It does not favor one side over the other; it binds the entire universe together, both good and bad."

Izzy was the first to answer. "I always thought that there was something keeping the balance of the world," he said. "But I assumed that it was just how nature worked."

Gennai nodded. "You are quite astute, Izzy. The Force influences how nature works: For every action, there is a reaction." He then smiled. "That's it for today, children. Nice work on your first lesson."

Before they could move, he turned his attention to Tai. "Except for you, Tai."

The boy in question looked at him with a confused look.

"Look, if this is about earlier, I have learned my lesson, Gennai," he tried to explain but the old man stopped him.

"That's not the point, my young friend. There is something you need to know, and I want you to venture further into the cave to discover what that is."

Tai's face paled as he stared deeper down the corridor, seeing nothing but never-ending darkness. It unsettled him as to what he possibly could find.

"W-what will I find there?" he asked, trying to keep himself together.

"That is up to you." Gennai replied. "Now go."

Tai gave a hesitant nod before venturing further into the darkness in front of him. He grabbed his lightsaber from his waist to activate it so that he could have some light. The sound echoed through the entire cave, making him feel uneasy at the prospect of alerting what was here to his presence.

The only sound that he heard was the humming of his lightsaber as he continued to walk along the dark cave path. It was as dark and quiet as a tomb, unsettling the young boy even further. Not sure what he would possibly run into, Tai kept his guard up as he rounded a corner slowly, but there was nothing on the other side. Giving a sigh of relief, he relaxed a little.

Suddenly, a dark fog came out of nowhere, blinding Tai to what was behind and in front of him. He couldn't see the corner he had just come around anymore.

"What's going on?" he vocalized out loud, his knuckles turning white underneath his white gloves as he clutched the saber in a death grip. What if this was another monster that they had yet to encounter in the Digital World?

A light beckoned him up ahead, glowing with an almost heavenly light, bringing warmth and comfort to him as he moved towards it. Every time it seemed to get closer, the light would move further away.

Maybe it was his eyes playing tricks on him, but apparitions of buildings flashed before his eyes as he continued to follow the light. For some reason, the buildings looked familiar, as if he had seen them before. The vision became clearer as he walked further.

He was on top of a bridge. Down below, the river flowed noiselessly, but the stink of it flooded Tai's nose with the unpleasant smell. It was that smell that caused the memories to flood back to him: This was the bridge that he had played on several times when he was little due to its proximity to his family's apartment.

 _Squeak, squeak._

The sound of a bicycle up ahead sang in Tai's ears. Deciding to move further up the bridge, a crash followed by a small cry also hit his ears. Whoever it was could be hurt, or in trouble, so Tai increased his pace.

Once he reached the source of the sound, the weirdest sense of déjà vu washed over Tai like a wave. Right in front of him was his seven-year-old self, his face, legs, and arms scratched from so many falls. The little boy was desperately trying to hold back tears that were threatening to trickle down his face as he wallowed in disappointment.

The sight of this triggered something in the older Tai. This was when he wanted to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels by himself, practicing all day until it got dark, thinking he could get the hang of it in that day. That did not end up being the case, however, because after enough tries, he finally gave up and went home crying. His mother was so aghast at his cut-up state that she doted on him all night until he felt better.

"I'm never gonna learn how to ride my bike," the younger boy sniffled hopelessly, tears already starting to cascade down his face.

Feeling a pang of sympathy for him, Tai felt the need to say something at that moment.

"Now don't say that. You just have to be patient. The more you keep practicing, the more likely you'll get it."

He bent down to the boy's level and placed a hand on his small shoulder with an encouraging smile.

"No one ever succeeds on the first try. Patience can be a great teacher, but it's the determination to try that matters more than anything. As long as you are willing to keep pushing through, eventually you will succeed at some point. So get back up on that bike and ride. I'll help you."

The younger boy wiped the tears from his eyes and hesitantly nodded.

"Ok…I'll try."

He slowly got back on the bike, the fear of falling down again resonating through his small body, but knowing that someone was there to help him gave him the confidence he needed. His feet slowly pushed the pedals as the older Tai pushed him from behind.

Tai then let the bike go when he felt that his younger self was confident enough to ride on his own.

"That's it! You're doing it!" He cried victoriously as the boy rode off into the mist, disappearing from sight with a cry of "I did it! I'm riding!"

' _That's it!'_ Tai realized. _'Patience is what Gennai wanted me to find. As long as I exercise patience, then everything will fall into place. I can't force everything to work at once, I need to let everything come to me in time.'_

With this realization, he turned back and walked the way he came as the mist slowly began to dissipate.

* * *

 **Now that Tai has learned the value of patience, how will he use it for the rest of their training? Find out on the next episode of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **This chapter was definitely shorter than the others, but it was a quality chapter, rather than just a filler like the last chapter was. Hope you guys all enjoyed it the same though.**

 **I decided to move up the moment of Tai going into the cave to experience this memory because I thought it was a good initial development moment before we get to the big one a couple chapters down the road. I'm sure you guys know which moment I am referring to so I don't need to tell you. Rather than focusing on his courage, I decided he learn patience in order to suit the needs of the chapter, so there you go.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe to the story as you read. We are now over 1000 views, everyone! Thank you sooooooo much! You guys are the best, I love you all! Catch you all next week for more training and dramatic moments.**


	11. Path of the Warrior

**Here we are with chapter 11. A longer one this time than the last two, just for you :-) I want to give a shout out to my friend Music Chick because today is her birthday. Happy birthday, Ren ;-) You're the best partner that I could ever ask for when it comes to my stories.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Tai collapsed onto his futon in exhaustion after three long days out in the cave. The others copied him and flopped down onto theirs. Three days they had been in the cave: barely any food, rest, or down time as Gennai tested them to the limit of their abilities.

With hardly any time in-between sessions, they became very good at meditating to replenish their energy after expending it to perform a powerful Force maneuver. Of all the things Gennai could have had them do, he made them lift rocks. Like they didn't see that coming.

But being back at Gennai's house, they were ready for a nice, long rest to refuel them for the next phase of their training, which Gennai told them would take place the next morning at dawn.

"I don't know how much more I can take of this," Joe whined, rubbing his aching feet. "I am beat!"

"Joe, it's only been three days," Izzy replied, trying to reason with the bespectacled boy.

"Yeah, and we have eleven more to go! If I get one more order to meditate, I am going to scream!"

Matt's patience finally topped out. He threw his covers off, ready to silence Joe by force, but Tai grabbed his arm before he could do anything. Tai shook his head disapprovingly, which Matt huffed at before settling down once again with the covers over his bare torso.

Next to him, TK looked asleep, but his brother wanted to check just to be sure. TK breathed softly, his eyes shut tight, and his mouth slightly open. Matt closed his mouth so he wouldn't wake up with a sore throat in the morning before ruffling the boy's hair softly.

"Ok, let's all settle down for sleep," Sora softly said, trying to defuse the tension that arose. "We've all got to be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow."

Everyone else echoed an 'ok' back before settling into their futons, thankful to finally rest more than two hours for the first time in a few days.

* * *

 _Sora's Dreams_

" _Why can't you understand?!" a young Sora cried, her hands clenched into tight fists as tears ran down her face._

" _Honestly, Sora, you are just like your father," her mother retorted._

" _Well good! I would rather be more like him than you!"_

" _Sora-"_

" _GO TO HELL!"_

 _The sound of a door slamming echoed._

* * *

Sora snapped out of her dream with a gasp. Her heavy breathing echoed throughout the entire room as she surveyed her surroundings, assuring herself that it was only a dream, and nothing more. Everyone else was either snoring or breathing softly as they drifted away in Dreamland, completely unaware of the auburn haired girl's plight.

A cold wetness on her face caught her attention, raising her hand to touch it. A stray tear slid down her finger until it reached the back of her hand. The trauma of the dream finally caught up to her as she curled her knees into her chest and softly began to cry.

It happened two years ago, but the memory was still fresh. Sora had been playing on an all-girls soccer team, and they were about to play the championship game when she fell with a sprained ankle that sidelined her for weeks. Determined to fight through the pain for her teammates, she begged her mother to let her go, but she was steadfast in her belief that Sora shouldn't play. She then dropped the bomb on her: Mrs. Takenouchi wanted her to stop playing soccer and work in the family flower shop instead. That had been the final straw, and Sora stormed out with a few words she shouldn't have said.

Sometimes she wondered if her mother even cared about what she had to say, or even loved her.

Sora loved her father most, compared to her mother, but he was never around a lot due to his work taking him away for months at a time. The times they did spend together were some of the best she ever had. He would always take her out for an ice cream whenever she felt sad, spoil her with trips to Disneyland, Shibuya, and tours of the Imperial Palace. Unfortunately, while he was gone, she was at her mother's mercy with no way out until he finally showed up at the door to make things right again.

Soon no more tears were left to be shed, and Sora settled down onto the bed to try and have more pleasant dreams.

Little did she suspect that someone had sensed her distress.

* * *

A cowbell echoed as it rang at impossible levels, easily jolting the kids from sleep.

"Rise and shine!" Gennai's voice followed. "Daylight's burning! Wake up, kids!"

Groans arose as they slowly gathered themselves for the day ahead. Sleep kept a tight grip on their brains, not wanting to let go, like a bulldog with a newspaper in its mouth. Despite themselves, the kids rubbed their eyes free of the disorientation to appear bright-eyed for Gennai.

"I don't believe we ordered a wake-up call," Mimi yawned as she stretched her arms.

"Mimi, not so loud," Izzy groaned, his eyes still half-shut. All he could see were black and white spots flashing like fireworks before his eyes, making everything blurry. "It's too early for this."

"Feels like I got run over by a truck," Matt rubbed the back of his neck while gently rousing TK awake.

"I think that cowbell could wake the dead," Tai yawned as well, throwing his arms back like he was preparing to throw a soccer ball.

"I trust you all slept well," said the old man, glancing at Sora out of the corner of his eye. "Because now it is time for the second phase of your training: how to properly wield a lightsaber. Come with me to the dojo."

Deep inside herself, Sora had the strangest feeling that he knew about last night. The look he gave her said it all: he read her thoughts and sensed the distress within her. It unsettled her just how mystical the Force could be.

The kids zombie-walked as they followed Gennai out of the house and into the garden. The sun barely rose over the horizon, ensuring plenty of darkness to cover the entire property while yielding small rays of light to their backs. Walking over the cobblestone bridge, they arrived at the other side of the property.

Their eyes widened when they saw what was inside after Gennai slid the doors open: a wide room covered with tatami mats, banners with kanji characters on the far side, and shinais lined up on the near wall. The sleepy feeling washed away once they saw the sticks, heightening their excitement for what was to come.

"Come inside," Gennai ordered, stepping aside so the children could walk in.

They settled on the ground with their legs crossed, trying to keep their posture straight so they wouldn't fall asleep.

"Welcome to the second part of your training," Gennai greeted with a pleasant smile that masked a sadistic undertone. He always enjoyed this part of the training the most, in more ways than one. "Today, you learn how to use the most powerful tool a Jedi can have at their disposal: the lightsaber. You have successfully learned how to sense and use the Force to your advantage, but using the Force is not enough. You must learn how to handle yourself in hand-to-hand combat situations, a la Devimon. If you hope to defeat him, and any other evil Digimon that comes your way, proper technique is required."

Loud snoring interrupted him before he continued on. Everyone looked to the middle to see Tai hanging his head to his left side, snoozing away peacefully.

"TAI!"

The boy snorted before wildly snapping his head back to attention.

"AH! The dam's burst! Man the lifeboats! Women and me first!" he cried, earning laughter from the other kids and a glare from Gennai. "What?"

"Since you appear _so_ eager to begin our lessons," Gennai drawled with a roll of his eyes. "Why don't you come up here for a little demonstration."

Looking around, unsure of what the old man had in mind, Tai hesitantly stood up from his seated position and moved to the front of the room. Something told him that whatever Gennai wanted to do, it wasn't going to be good.

"Think fast!"

Tai snapped out of his stupor just in time to catch the shinai that was thrown to him. He looked at it curiously as he got a feel for the grip. The stick was two feet long, reminding him of a katana, and the bamboo on the blade was smooth to the touch.

"Why are we using shinais?" he asked. "Why don't we just use our lightsabers?"

"Because I don't want someone to lose a limb," Gennai replied. "It won't do any good for my reputation."

Tai shrugged, guessing he could buy that explanation. He adjusted the stick in his grip before pointing it towards the old man across from him.

"Now show me what you've got."

Tai couldn't help but release a chuckle. "Ok, but don't think I'm going to go easy on…"

POW! BAM! THWACK!

The attacks came so quickly that Tai did not have any time to react to them. The first strike knocked his shinai out of his hand, followed by a whack to the arm, back, and chest, before having his legs swept out from under him. He hit the ground with a loud thud, then saw Gennai's shinai pointed directly between his eyes.

"Rule number one," the old man hissed. "Never let your guard down against your opponent."

The kids watched the scene with silent, awed expressions at what had just happened. For an old man, Gennai was extremely agile and moved as fast as a bullet train in his attacks.

"Whoa!" TK gasped, his face glowing with awe.

Mimi and Sora vainly tried to suppress their giggles, but couldn't help it and giggled noisily.

"Maybe that'll teach you to be a little less overconfident, Tai," said Sora.

"Oh shut up!" Tai shot a dirty look back. He looked up at Gennai and the stick between his eyes.

"How did you do that?"

"I may be old, but I have spent centuries mastering the art of Ataru," said Gennai, removing his stick from Tai's face to allow the boy to get to his feet. "That is the fourth form of ligthsaber combat."

Tai sat down without another peep, not wanting a repeat performance of what he went through.

"There are seven classical forms of lightsaber combat: Shii-Cho, the basics of striking; Makashi, the basics of dueling; Soresu, defense; Ataru, as I just showed you, is fast and effective offense that your enemies cannot defeat; Shien and Djem So, a combination of both with emphasis on either defense or offense; Niman, every form in one; and Juyo is the most aggressive form of combat, but I will not be showing you that one."

Matt cocked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because its aggressive nature could lead you down the path of the dark side," Gennai warned, sensing the older blonde-haired boy's interest. "As I was saying, I will show you every other form in order to feel what type of fighting style suits you, because everyone has a different preference."

The entire room was silent as the kids paid close attention to what he was saying. Judging them individually, Gennai could sense their personality types, giving him a good idea of what style would fit them. When he came to Matt, however, he could sense a dark cloud within him. There was so much conflict that the old man feared the boy could succumb to the darkness growing within him if he didn't do something.

He finally spoke.

"Each of you grab a shinai and I will show you the Shii-Cho form," he instructed.

The kids followed orders and stood at attention with the stick swords at their sides, while Gennai stood at the front of the room with his.

"The basics of Shii-Cho come from the six angles of attack on the human body," he explained, holding his shinai like a katana with two hands, which the kids copied. "The head, arms and sides, legs, and back. You learn to target those areas due to the damage you can inflict on an opponent. Now follow along with every strike I make. Head."

Gennai swung his shinai over his head before bringing it down swiftly. He called out each body part as he performed each appropriate attack for that area: a side cut towards the arms, a wrap-around attack to the back, and slashes to the legs. The kids followed along flawlessly, looking like martial artists as they sailed through the progression, picking up speed as they went along until the shinais zipped and flew through the air with precision.

After a few more cycles, Gennai felt they were ready to move on to defense.

"Now that you have learned how to attack, it is now time to learn how to defend yourself," he said. "Once you have learned that, you all will be allowed to spar."

"What does that mean?" Mimi asked, not knowing what the word meant.

"It's basically practice fighting," explained Sora. "It helps keep your battle skills sharp."

"Oh." Mimi's eyes widened in realization.

"Now follow exactly what I do, just like what you did before," Gennai instructed before showing the Jedi-in-training how to block each attack.

Just like earlier, the kids went through each block that he showed them several times slowly until feeling confident enough to do it with some speed, while still retaining the fluidity of their motions.

"Ok, let's spar. Get yourself a partner."

They did not need to be told twice as they all split off into pairs: Matt and Tai, the girls, and Joe and Izzy, leaving poor TK as the odd man out.

"Gennai, I don't have a partner," the young boy said, raising his hand.

"It's ok, my young friend," the old man smiled warmly. "I just want you to observe for now. You'll get to be a part of it, I promise."

TK smiled softly with a nod before strolling over to Gennai to sit beside him, paying close attention to what he was about to see as he shook with excitement.

"Matt, Tai, you're up first."

The two boys stood across from each other, giving a bow in respect before holding their shinais in the Shii-Cho stance. Tai smirked while Matt kept a neutral, focused look, worrying only about the task at hand.

"Ready, go!"

Tai struck swiftly right out of the gate, keeping Matt on his toes as he blocked each attack. As Tai went for a leg strike, Matt blocked it with ease and gave Tai a soft whack to the head, stunning him for a good second. He then pressed the attack this time, forcing Tai to be on the defensive.

Gennai watched as the duel moved back and forth at a brisk pace, observing the both of them. Matt was clearly the more methodical of the two, while Tai had the most ferocity when it came to attacking. He already could tell that Djem So would be the style for Matt due to the power of his strikes, but also having the sense of mind for defense as well.

Tai, however, was wired to attack whenever he could; any opening he would get to attack, he would take, no matter what position he found himself in. It could be effective, but it could also be a weakness.

Just as he thought that, a strike from Matt knocked Tai's shinai from his hand. The blonde then pointed his sword at Tai's throat.

"Ok, boys, that's good," Gennai said, signifying that the duel was over. "Overall, you have good flow to your attacks. Matt, don't be afraid to press the attack when you have your opponent backed into a corner."

Matt nodded in understanding.

"Tai, have some respect for defense, why don't you? It'll save your life one of these days."

Tai hung his head in disappointment, but nodded nonetheless to show he understood. He and Matt returned to their spots on the floor without another word and watched as everyone else went.

During Joe and Izzy's sparring match, Joe did nothing but block each attack that came his way, while Izzy was a good balance between offense and defense. Occasionally, Joe would unleash a counterstrike, but he was all too content to defend. Gennai could tell that he would be a more defense-oriented lightsaber user, while Izzy would be a balanced duelist. He already knew what forms they would specialize in: Soresu for Joe, and Niman for Izzy.

The girls were more even and cautious during their duel, with Sora dictating most of the pace, but she would neither attack too much or defend too much; she was a perfect balance. The same applied for Mimi, though Gennai sensed she did not like to fight as much as Sora did. He would have to work around that. Overall, he deduced that they would be Niman users due to their balance between offense and defense.

"Ok, everyone," he said once their sparring match was over. "That's it for this session. We'll meet back here this afternoon. Good work."

* * *

Breakfast was a quiet affair as the kids all went back to their room for their mandated meditation sessions. Gennai made it clear to them that in order to become stronger with the Force, they were to meditate at least five times a day for half an hour. It sounded excessive, but they didn't question it.

The room was covered in darkness due to the blinds on the windows preventing sunlight from streaming in. In-between the cracks of the blinds were dark pieces of cloth that blocked the rays of sunlight that would try to sneak into the room, providing the children with the best meditation atmosphere possible. The symbols on their arms glowed dimly as their concentration deepened. Traditional Japanese music played softly in the background as their slow, controlled breaths took over the room.

Matt inhaled through his nose and then exhaled through it slowly, a peaceful feeling washing over his entire body like a wave crashing on the shore. The presence of everyone's Force energy around him helped calm him. He never had much in the way of companionship throughout his life, so this was definitely a different experience for him. He was ambivalent about going to summer camp, but he did not expect to be where he was right now.

His thoughts turned from that to what Gennai had said earlier.

" _Juyo is the most aggressive form of combat, but I will not be showing you that one because its aggressive nature could lead you down the path to the dark side."_

Matt felt this uneasy feeling when Gennai had said that, like it was meant for _him_. If such a form was so powerful, what was the key to learning how to apply it? If he could learn it, then maybe he could be the most powerful Destined Jedi that ever lived, and cure this loneliness that ate at him his entire life.

"Ok, children, your time is up," Gennai announced, sliding open the door just a tad so he could peak into the room. "We will meet back in the dojo in one hour, so be ready."

He then turned to look at Matt.

"Matt, care to have a word with me for a moment?" he asked with a seriousness that gave Matt the feeling if he refused, something horrible would happen to him.

"Ok."

Matt quickly followed before Gennai could physically remove him from the room. Gennai led him down the hallway, out of the house, and into the garden, stopping in front of the pond. The koi fish swam in the pond without a care in the world. Sometimes Matt wished he could be more like them, rather than being himself.

He couldn't restrain his impatience anymore as he asked, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Patience, my young friend," the old man replied as he sat with his legs folded. "Come. Sit."

Not taking his eyes off the koi fish for a second, Matt sat down next to Gennai, letting his thoughts wander as many things began to manifest themselves beneath the surface of his heart. Not only the loneliness he felt, but also the resentment and anger towards his family.

"Be mindful of your thoughts, Matt," the sound of Gennai's voice shattered his concentration. "I can see right through you, no matter what you think, so nothing you try to hide from me is safe."

Matt scoffed. "Who gave you permission to be my psychiatrist?" he answered with outright hostility.

Gennai bristled at the tone of his voice, but continued with his explanation. He had dealt with this kind of behavior before, and it certainly would not be the last.

"The fear in your heart is what is holding you back. Oh yes, I sense much fear in you. Fear is the path to the…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Matt interrupted with a roll of his eyes, having heard this before. "Fear is the path to the dark side. Whatever, Yoda."

A burst of pain shot through his head as a rock made contact with his cranium, causing him to press his hand against it.

"Ow! What'd you do that for?!"

"If you are not willing to listen to what I have to say, then there is no sense in training you further, Matt Ishida," Gennai said in the harshest voice he could muster. "I know what troubles you, and I can help, but you have to let me in. I know it must be hard, but you need to learn to rely on others. You don't have to be the man of the house around here, Matt."

Matt's eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

The old man exhaled sharply. "I know a lot more than you think. You never felt like you could truly be yourself, like you had to put on an act to fool everyone. But now that you have friends around you, you're not sure how to handle the situation because you've never been close to anyone before."

Matt was silent the whole time he spoke. Gennai truly did know how he felt, and it felt good to have someone who could understand him.

"What must I do, Gennai?"

"Learn to love yourself before you can love others," the old man responded.

* * *

That afternoon, the humming of lightsabers filled the dojo as the kids hacked, jumped, and swiped against invisible opponents, practicing their new techniques.

Tai and Matt took to theirs with ease; using strong, controlled motions that also carried strength and power. Matt was practicing strictly Djem So, but while Tai also practiced the same style, he added Ataru to it, creating a hybrid that he called the "Tai-phoon technique."

When asked to explain why he called it this, he shrugged and said that like a typhoon, it was fast and powerful, but also controlled and centered.

"Devimon better watch out," he snarked. "Because soon, he's going to get a taste of it."

Everyone else had varying degrees of success.

Izzy and Sora took to the Niman style right away, with Izzy beginning to sprinkle some of the Shien style into his technique after Gennai showed him some moves. He wanted to achieve a perfect balance of attack and defense, but having an extra weapon in his arsenal didn't hurt. Due to the Niman style allowing the user to focus on other aspects besides fighting, he and Sora worked together to come up with blocks and special attacks that put their own spin on it.

Joe spun his lightsaber around defensively until his wrist started to hurt. His style was the exclusively defensive Soresu. To avoid a repeat of when Devimon slashed him on the calf, he focused in on guarding swiftly and efficiently, so that no attack could get through to him. He would occasionally do a vertical or diagonal cut so that he could take advantage of when an opponent would tire out.

Mimi, on the other hand, struggled to accept the idea that she would have to fight. If she thought that having to destroy the Dark Gear in that horse on Infinity Mountain was scary, then she wanted nothing to do with actual combat, where her life and those of her friends would be at stake. She tested every single inch of Gennai's patience, but he finally got her to practice her technique. As long as they avoided combat as much as possible, she didn't see why she couldn't do it either.

TK finally got his chance to get in on the action, practicing the same Shii-Cho basics that Gennai had shown the group earlier. His lightsaber blade was a bright blue, about the same shade as Tai and Sora's lightsabers, unlike Joe's pale blue one. Since he was still young, Gennai didn't want him to learn anything too advanced yet, so he just had him practice Shii-Cho. That didn't stop him from trying to copy Tai's acrobatics though.

Gennai watched with a gleam in his eye; they were learning at the rate he expected them to. By the time their training was done, they would be more than ready to handle what was to come. Despite his confidence, the old man sensed that something sinister and dark had yet to make its presence known.

' _This is just the beginning.'_

* * *

 **Now that they have gotten their styles of combat down, what awaits our young heroes next? Find out on the next episode of "The Destined Jedi".**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter, because I did. I found these videos on YouTube that broke down the basics of describing each style of lightsaber combat that I could describe it. The training arc has kinda reached a mid-point right now, which is all I'm gonna say.**

 **Let's get to some reviews:**

 **honter11: Glad to have your support as always. You'll like what's coming. I promise you.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Not yet. We will get to that pretty shortly.**

 **Music Chick: XD The rooster absolutely was the star of last chapter XD Yup, and there is still a lot more to come. Happy birthday!**

 **Emperor Superior: Nice to hear from you for the first time in a while. Nonsense, I always love to answer questions. All I can say is that you will get your money's worth, for there is still the final test that is yet to come. You'll learn a few things about each of them soon. I promise. In the meantime, feel free to give in-depth reviews, knowing that you'll get your request. I really like those.**

 **Please be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read so that I can answer more of your questions if you have any. We're already at 10 subscribers, which is awesome. Keep it going.**

 **Ciao for now.**


	12. Premonitions

**Welcome to chapter 12, everyone. Hope you are all well as we settle in to see what happens next. We only have just a few more chapters of the training arc left, so soon they will be doing real Jedi stuff! Woohoo!**

 **Let's answer some reviews, shall we?**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yes, I went with that angle because Gennai always struck me as the sarcastic, tough love kind of teacher than someone like Yoda. You are absolutely right about Sora's mom, because they wanted to I think make it understandable to English audiences, though I think the original line makes just as much sense. Glad to know you like it.**

 **Music Chick: Glad to know your birthday was awesome ;-) Oh, just you wait. That is going to be coming very, _very_ soon. Stay tuned. **

**No more talking from me now. Roll 'em!**

* * *

 _The Dark Parthenon_

 _File Island_

Devimon sat in deep meditation, concentrating all of his energy into sensing the Force energy around him. It had been a week and a half since he defeated the Destined Jedi, and almost destroyed TK, but he had the feeling they would be back soon, this time as fully trained Jedi.

' _And when that moment comes, I will finish them off for good,'_ he thought.

Despite them not being on File Island anymore, he could still feel their presence far off on Server; their power was growing, and quickly. It didn't make sense to him why his master wanted to simply destroy them when they could just take over the entire Digital World right now while they were away.

"Devimon."

The evil Digimon opened his eyes to see a transmission of his master standing before him. The figure was outlined in blue, his face one of agitation, which Devimon did not take to be a good sign.

"Master," he bowed respectfully. "What do you desire from me?"

"Time is running out, Devimon," the figure replied harshly. "Soon the Destined Jedi will be fully trained and strong enough to stop us. Why didn't you kill them while you had the chance?"

Devimon cringed as his master's tone rose with each sentence he spoke.

"My lord, forgive me, but why do we need to destroy them now?" he asked. "Why don't we just take over the Digital World first before they are fully trained? That way, we can destroy them after we have completed our mission."

"Silence! You had your chance to destroy them, but you decided to play games with them! If you fail me yet again, Devimon, I will not be so forgiving next time. Destroy them now so they will not stand in our way!"

"Y-yes, Master Myotismon," Devimon bowed until his forehead almost touched the ground. "I will do as you wish."

"Good."

The transmission then disappeared, leaving Devimon shaken by his master's threat. It was not that he wasn't trying to destroy the children, but they were an elusive bunch. He didn't know where to begin looking for the children, but he knew someone who might.

"Ogremon!" he roared.

The green ogre came running in less than a second.

"Yes, Lord Devimon?" he quickly dropped down to his knees and bowed.

"Find the Destined Jedi, wherever they are, and kill them before they can complete their training," Devimon ordered. "Master Myotismon does not wish to take any chances with their return. Can I trust you to do this?"

Ogremon nodded rapidly like a bobblehead doll. "Yes, Lord Devimon. I promise I will not let you down."

"For your sake, I hope not," Devimon hissed, causing the ogre to cringe in fear.

He then moved to the altar near his throne and picked up a square box before presenting it to Ogremon.

"To help you on your task, I shall give you these."

He opened the box to reveal two lightsabers. The handles were smooth and curved, fitting well into Ogremon's hands. Two red blades emerged once he activated them, bringing an evil smile to the ogre's face.

"Thank you, my lord," he bowed in gratitude.

"These are not for you to keep," replied Devimon. "They are strictly to help you destroy the Destined Jedi, so you better make the most of this opportunity."

"Oh I will. You can be sure of that."

"I hope so."

* * *

 _Gennai's House_

 _Server_

A week had passed, and things were going smoothly for the Destined Jedi. They practiced their saber techniques almost every hour of the day until they felt like masters of their own style. After a feeling out period of three days, it became second nature to them and they were doing it without thinking.

Even little TK was starting to get the hang of using his lightsaber and commanding the Force. For someone so young, Gennai could feel the strength that lurked beneath him, something he knew would blossom one day. Matt took it upon himself to work with him, thinking that having someone he trusted work with him would yield better results, and so far it worked.

It was also during this time that they began to bond with their crystals in order to unlock greater power, like Leomon had explained to them when he brought them to Server. Gennai explained that the way to achieve this bond was through meditation; it took the highest amount of concentration because the crystal was itself a living thing, and could sense whatever the wielder was feeling. If done correctly, the Jedi would feel a great rush of power coming from the symbols in their arms and be able to do the most incredible things that the legends could never explain.

Izzy also cracked the code on the woodcarvings of the creatures that Gennai had shown him. After many long nights, some lasting until three or four in the morning, he found out four other creatures' names and what they represented: Gabumon, the Digimon of Friendship; Biyomon, the Digimon of Love; Gomamon, the Digimon of Reliability; and Palmon, the Digimon of Sincerity. Judging by the symbols that were associated with them, he could tell these Digimon were associated with Matt, Sora, Joe, and Mimi.

All that was left for him was the dinosaur, the guinea pig, and the cat. With a few days left, he was confident he would finish in time.

* * *

"The Digimon of Courage."

Izzy let out a loud yawn as everyone else continued to sleep in the other room, just past the sliding door. After waking someone up in the middle of the night every time he would work, Izzy knew he had to find a new place to decipher the digicode. Thankfully, Gennai was more than happy to loan him the spare bedroom that was directly attached to their room, which gave him plenty of privacy but also allowed for him to quietly go to bed without disturbing anyone.

Pressing a few keys on his laptop, Izzy dragged the screen shot he made of the digicode above the carving of the dinosaur and aligned it with a document he made that allowed him to translate each letter into kanji. He developed the program to help him translate it quickly and more efficiently rather than going to the painstaking task of looking off a book of translations that Gennai gave him.

After a few more seconds, the name appeared in clear kanji.

Agumon.

Izzy then saw the sun symbol to the carving's right, and quickly concluded that this Digimon was connected to Tai. He let out a sigh of relief, happy that the day's work was finally over. It was time to go to sleep.

He shut his laptop, then rubbed his eyes. His brain felt like fried ramen due to it being almost two o'clock in the morning and from staring at his computer screen for an extended period of time.

Stopping into the bathroom on the way to relieve himself and get a sip of water, Izzy silently slid the door to the bedroom open. He was greeted by the sounds of everyone's soft breathing as they slept peacefully. The tatami mats hid his steps well as he snuck over to his futon, which was the nearest to the door and right next to Sora, and settled in under the covers without making too much noise. Because of how tired he was, he quickly dozed off to sleep.

* * *

 _The cool evening air nipped at Tai's face._

 _Looking around, he found himself on the balcony outside of his room back at home, with a view of the Rainbow Bridge and Odaiba Beach that could be considered the best in the entire district._

" _I can't believe it!" he exclaimed, a smile starting to rise on his face. "I'm home!"_

 _Before he could celebrate this fact, a sound from behind him made its presence known. It sounded like his family's cat, Miko, but he still turned around to look._

" _Miko?" he called. "Here, kitty, kitty."_

 _Instead of Miko, Tai saw what looked to be a humanoid creature with a wizard's hat that covered its brown hair. The front of the hat was adorned with a skull, leaving Tai to wonder if it was real or not._

 _In front of the wizard, a white cat with yellow green gloves that were tipped with sharp claws, and purple tips at the ends of its ears, stood with its paw outstretched. Tai's eyes widened when he saw that it had a lightsaber in its possession. Could it be that this was the eighth Jedi that he and the others had been hearing about?_

 _A hand stretched out to take the saber, which his eyes glued to. He followed the arm up to look at the face of the person whom it belonged to…_

* * *

"Tai, wake up!"

Tai's eyes snapped open at the call of his name. Looking up, he saw that he was back at Gennai's house, rather than his family's apartment. Suddenly, it hit him: He had dreamt that whole thing. Even with that thought, he couldn't help but feel as though it was an event that was yet to come, for they still had yet to find this eighth Destined Jedi.

He turned and saw that Sora was the one who had called his name, her crimson eyes looking at him with concern.

"S-Sora?" he asked as he registered what was going on around him. Everyone else had gotten up and left the room by this point, leaving just the two of them alone.

"Are you ok?" she asked. "You were talking in your sleep. Was it a bad dream?"

Tai groaned slightly as he sat up, exposing his bare torso to the girl as the comforter fell unceremoniously to his lap.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "It was just a weird dream."

"Mind telling me about it?"

He threw the covers off of him to get up and start putting his clothes on. Sora wasn't going to let him get away with that, though, for she hounded him like a hawk.

"No thanks," he replied as he threw his shirt on. "It's not important."

Sora threw him an admonishing look, like ones his mother would give him when she knew he was lying.

"Come on, Tai. You know I know you better than that," she smirked. "Your thoughts betray you as well."

Tai stood in silence for a good ten seconds, wondering just what it was that caused Sora to read his mind. Ever since they were young, she always seemed to know what he was thinking, even if it wasn't clear as day. It scared him sometimes.

Finally, he opened his mouth to respond.

"I think I may know who this eighth Destined Jedi is. I had a vision of a wizard-like Digimon and a white cat presenting a lightsaber to someone."

"Who was it?"

"I don't know. I didn't see their face."

"Then why did you say that you may know who it was?" Sora retorted with a smirk, knowing she was painting him into a corner.

"Something inside of me says that the eighth Jedi may be closer than we think. Someone we would least suspect."

"That doesn't really help much, I'm afraid," she replied sadly.

Resting a hand on his shoulder, she led him out of the room into the hallway towards the living room for breakfast.

Everyone else had already started eating by the time the two of them arrived. Gennai smiled at them.

"Good morning," he greeted.

Tai and Sora nodded back in greeting.

"Good morning."

Tai's plate was soon full of food: a small bowl of rice, a thin slice of salmon with miso to go along with it, and a small omelet, along with other vegetables. A cup of hot green tea completed the meal as he settled in to eat.

"Holy cow!" he exclaimed after taking a bite of his omelet. "What's in this food? Seriously! It's so good."

Everyone chortled slightly at his antics as they ate, paying more attention to their food than starting a conversation. No one complained though, as only the clatter of chopsticks against the bowls of rice resonated throughout the room.

Gennai glanced up from his meal to look at Tai sitting across from him. The old man sensed that something was bothering him, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Tai was unnerved by the glare that Gennai looked at him with, like he was staring right into his very soul.

"Is there a problem, Gennai?" he asked.

The old man shook his head.

"No, there's no problem."

Shrugging his shoulders, Tai continued to eat his breakfast.

* * *

 _Smoke rose from the ruins of what used to be a building. Rubble lay all around the foundation, a large gaping hole in the side giving a glimpse of the hallways and offices that were inside._

 _Tai could not believe what he was seeing. It was like a bad dream, but it was indeed real._

 _All around him, destruction was everywhere; fractures in the road so deep that he could see all the way down to the sewer beneath, road signs and traffic lights lay in a messed up tangle of wires and metal, cars were flipped upside down destroyed, train tracks were derailed, and fog lay thick over the entire district of Odaiba._

 _Looking closer, what Tai saw next almost made him heave with disgust: Scores of dead bodies lay underneath fallen rubble. So many people that were beloved by someone would never get the chance to be with them again._

 _A loud, cold, evil laugh broadcasted itself all over the ruined district, but before Tai could turn around to find the source of it, everything faded out of focus._

* * *

"Tai!"

Tai found himself lying on the floor, twitching as if a demon had tried to possess his body, and breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon. Opening his eyes, he saw everyone standing over him with concerned looks on their faces. Gennai was the closest to him with his hand pressed against Tai's forehead.

"Come with me," he said, his tone serious as a heart attack. "Now."

Gennai roughly grabbed his hand and pulled Tai up from the ground before leading him out of the dojo. Everyone else resumed their meditation without a word of protest, channeling their Force energy to focus on bonding with their lightsaber crystals.

Once Tai and Gennai left, TK opened one eye to make sure that no one was watching. A playful smirk worked its way onto his young features as he brought his hand up to his mouth. Over the past week and a half, between meditation sessions and practicing their saber techniques, they hadn't had any time to have fun, and because of that, everyone was off balance.

TK chortled silently to try and keep his intentions hidden. The kids may have had a week and a half's worth of training in using the Force to sense everything going on around them, but they couldn't do it on a consistent basis yet, thus giving the young boy an opportunity.

POOT!

Matt was the first to open his eyes and look for the source of the noise.

"Who did that?"

The sound of TK trying to contain his laughter then caught his ears. He turned his head to give the younger blonde an admonishing look as TK looked up at him.

"TK, don't do that," he said sternly. "Grow up!"

TK looked down contritely, twiddling his thumbs rapidly as he tried to come up with an explanation. Matt then chuckled.

"Don't do it if you're not going to do it right," he smirked. "Let me show you how the big boys do it."

Taking a deep breath, Matt blew into his hand, unleashing the best and loudest fart imitation that he could. TK doubled over in hysterics, pounding the ground as hard as his little fist would allow. Tears began running down his cheeks, his stomach also started to hurt.

"You guys are so immature!" Sora cried out in disgust.

BURP!

She quickly covered her mouth, uttering an "excuse me" in reflex. Izzy joined Matt and TK in their howling laughter after trying to keep a straight face for a second.

"Good one, Sora," TK gasped due to his laughter.

Sora's blush gave way as her lips quivered before giggles began to escape. After trying to keep them contained, she realized it was futile and unleashed them in full-blown laughter.

Mimi and Joe wrinkled their noses in disgust at the juvenile display. They calmed their minds to try and focus again on their meditation, but everyone's laughter made that hard.

"Guys, what are you, five years old?" Joe chastised them. "Grow up."

"Don't be such a prude, Joe," Matt gasped, his sides hurting from all the laughing he had been doing.

"I'm not," the bespectacled boy huffed. "I'm just being the mature one; someone has to be."

BRAP!

The room fell deathly silent as the fart echoed through the entire dojo. All eyes were on Joe as his face slowly turned red in embarrassment.

"That wasn't me."

The room again erupted in howling laughter, this time Joe and Mimi laughed right along with them.

* * *

Into the house and down the hallway Tai and Gennai went before stopping in front of Gennai's quarters. Compared to the kids' room, it was much smaller, but then again it was only him sleeping in there.

"Sit down," Gennai ordered, plopping himself down into a lotus position.

Tai followed orders, though he was confused as to what was going on.

"What did you see?"

"What are you talking about?" Tai asked, unsure of what Gennai was asking him.

"You know exactly what I am talking about," the old man replied in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "You were seeing the future, were you not?"

"The future?"

"Yes. It is not uncommon for Force users to sense the future at any given point, but you must be careful with how you proceed with it. The fear of the unknown could lead you down the wrong path. Now tell me about this premonition you were having."

Tai closed his eyes as the trauma of what he saw came back to him. He was uncomfortable talking about it because he didn't understand exactly what he had seen.

"So much destruction," he whispered, a tear slowly sliding down his cheek. "Death, suffering, nothing left."

"Where was it?"

Tai took a deep breath to get his emotions under control, wiping the tears away with his gloved hand, before answering.

"I'm not sure. I couldn't make it out too well. All I heard was an evil laugh that sent chills down my spine and then it was over."

Gennai let this information soak into his mind. No doubt that Tai was having premonitions of what may be, but he wondered if something much larger than themselves was behind it.

"Gennai, may I ask you something?"

"Ask away, my young friend."

"Is it possible that whatever happens here can affect the real world as well?"

Gennai was taken aback by this question. If he had to make a guess, he would say that Tai had seen a vision of the real world being destroyed by some evil Digimon. The laugh he mentioned hearing certainly fit the mold for that assumption.

"Yes," he finally answered. "What happens in the Digital World can also have consequences on your world. Why do you ask?"

"Because last night, I had another vision. I believe that it involved who the eighth Destined Jedi could be."

Tai told Gennai the story of what he saw; the white cat standing before someone with a lightsaber in its paw and the hand stretched out to take the lightsaber. Before he could get a look at them, it was over. As he sat and listened, Gennai was elated to get a glimmer of the missing chosen one's location.

"So what must I do next?" Tai asked after he finished.

"You leave that to me," replied the old man. "Right now, go back with the others and meditate. Get this off of your mind."

Tai bowed respectfully before walking out of the room.

As Gennai contemplated this, he felt a chill go down his spine as darkness began to creep its way into his Force energy. Whatever Tai was seeing, it only spelled trouble on the horizon.

When Tai returned to the dojo, all he heard were farting sounds and hysterical laughter. Confused as to what was going on, he stepped inside to investigate.

What he saw were bodies spread across the floor, pounding the floor, some even had tears streaming down their faces due to how hard they were laughing.

To get their attention, Tai cleared his throat loudly. The laughter ceased and everyone pulled themselves together in order to appear as though they were focusing.

Tai looked at Matt, who answered, "If Gennai asks, we were meditating the whole time."

He shrugged and sat down to resume his meditation, wondering just what exactly happened while he was away.

* * *

 **HAHAHAHAHAHA! So aside from some _very_ juvenile behavior from the kids, Tai is beginning to have premonitions. Are these visions of events that will come to pass? Find out on the next episode of "The Destined Jedi". **

**I'm sure you all could guess who the two Digimon are based purely on intuition, but who was it that the cat was giving the lightsaber to? Could it be the eighth Destined Jedi? All will be revealed to you soon. I promise. That moment where they trade making weird noises was based purely on a need for some comic relief to balance out all the darkness of the last couple chapters. Hope you all laughed your pants off.**

 **As usual, type and then hit that review button, along with the subscribe button to get more Destined Jedi. All while supplies last ;-) Things are starting to get good, so be a part of it. Ciao.**


	13. The Jedi Of Love

**Welcome all to the next installment of 'The Destined Jedi'. What awaits our young heroes next? You are about to find out.**

 **Ackbarfan5556 and Music Chick, thank you both for your continued support for this story. You guys are the best I could ever ask for.**

 **Here we go.**

* * *

"Ready, go!"

Tai and Matt circled each other slowly, never taking their eyes off of each other. Their lightsabers hummed with energy, ready to be released at the drop of a hat as they sized each other up like sumo wrestlers.

This morning, Gennai decided to have them spar some more to make up for lost time from yesterday. Tai still found it hard to accept that he was having premonitions, mostly because he had been able to see things before they happen before, though not as vividly as he did the previous day.

"Want the first attack, Matt?" he smirked.

"No thank you," returned the blonde, who had just as big of a smirk as him. "Ladies first. I insist."

"Very well then. You better not regret it."

Tai somersaulted towards Matt with a growl of determination, showing off his newfound acrobatics. He slashed his saber forward with blinding speed, which Matt quickly blocked. Unlike the first time they sparred, Tai was ready to defend Matt's counterattack and brushed it aside as Matt went for a strike towards the head, using his acrobatics and heightened reflexes to avoid his attacks.

Due to his background as a soccer player, Tai had a good aerobic base with which to work from, so he didn't get tired as easily from doing all of his fast evasions. Using this to his advantage, he was able to easily frustrate Matt because he couldn't land a clean shot.

Sensing an opening, Tai stopped evading and began to press the attack, overwhelming Matt with a barrage of attacks that the blonde struggled to defend against due to expanding so much energy in trying to attack Tai. The two then locked themselves in a saber lock, looking each other dead in the eyes.

As Matt began to gain a small advantage, Tai kicked him in the mid-section to force him back. Seizing the opportunity, he leapt towards him as he brought his lightsaber down from above his head. The amount of force from the attack knocked Matt's lightsaber out of his hand, sending it scattering along the floor as he fell. Tai pointed his lightsaber at Matt's throat, signifying that the match was over.

"Need a lift?" Tai offered his hand out for Matt to grab, panting heavily from the amount of energy he used.

The blonde haired boy hesitantly grabbed his hand, which allowed Tai to pull him up. The goggle-headed boy then gave him a pat on the back, which he reciprocated to show respect. Matt then used the Force to call his lightsaber back to his hand.

"Nice work, boys," Gennai praised, clapping in awe of the performance he had seen from them. "The two of you are getting stronger than when you first got here. Tai, way to be resourceful when it comes to defense. Ataru can provide a great defense if you know how to use it. Great job."

Tai bowed in appreciation with a beaming smile.

"Matt, I like what I saw from you. The fluidity of your attacks is getting better, and your tenacity is really showing. You got caught in a bad situation there at the end because you chased ghosts rather than waiting for Tai to make the first move. Work on that."

Matt nodded in understanding.

"Ok, Gennai."

"Good. Now I think you kids have earned a good bite to eat. Let's get some food."

"Hooray!" the kids all cried as they rushed from the dojo faster than squirrels on caffeine.

* * *

Eight bowls of ramen lined the kotatsu table, filled with thin slices of pork, scallions, egg, and a small bit of lemon to add a shot of citrus to the flavor of the bowl. The broth was rich and thick, good enough that it could stand on its own without the noodles.

Due to the energy they had expanded all morning, the kids dove into the noodles like a pack of wolves going for caribou carcass, stuffing their faces and slurping the noodles to get the full flavor circulating through their taste buds. Over the past almost two weeks, the kids really started to love Gennai's ramen bowls; they almost beat all the noodle shops in Odaiba by a mile.

"Man, I can't believe we'll be done in just a couple days," said Tai as he sipped the broth. "I'm really gonna miss cooking like this. These ramen bowls are fantastic, Gennai."

The old man smiled.

"I'm glad you all like it. Have as much as you want."

"Thank you!" they all cried happily.

Soon the kids were laying on the floor, completely stuffed from three helpings of ramen. Loud moans escaped their lips as their stomachs felt like they were going to burst due to all the food they ate. It was like Thanksgiving came early.

Izzy was the first to sit up, shaking his head to get the sleepiness out of him. After staying up late again the previous night, he finally figured out the last creature. Its name was Patamon, and it was known as the Digimon of Hope. Through the symbol next to the carving, Izzy deduced that it was connected to TK. He couldn't figure out the other carving, but that one was going to take a long time since they had yet to discover the eighth Jedi.

"Gennai, you'll be happy to know that I have finally deciphered the carvings on the wall for you," he reported happily. "After many long nights and countless cups of oolong tea, I managed to do it."

"Splendid! You have done me a great service, Izzy," the old man's smile grew even bigger. "What did they say?"

Izzy cleared his throat as he began his explanation once everyone sat up as well.

"What I found out over the course of the past week and a half was that these creatures represented a specific meaning that we all exemplify," he explained. "The symbols next to the carvings are an identical match to the ones on our arms, which means they are connected to us in some fashion. This must be why we heard those voices over the course of our journey; it is these creatures talking to us."

"So that's why you were always up so late," Tai realized, finally understanding why Izzy would wake up so tired in the morning.

"Does that mean we'll get to meet them soon?" Mimi asked.

"It is certainly possible, Mimi," Izzy nodded, pulling his laptop out to show the picture of the wall for everyone to see. "Anyway, here is what they are called."

He pointed to the carving of the dinosaur. "This is Agumon, the Digimon of Courage; due to the symbol here, I have concluded that it is connected with you, Tai."

Tai looked between the symbol on the screen and the one on his arm. Sure enough, they were completely identical.

"Wow," he whispered breathlessly. "Courage."

"The wolf-like creature here is called Gabumon, and it is known as the Digimon of Friendship. That's you, Matt."

"Friendship, huh?" the blonde looked down at his symbol, pondering the meaning.

"This creature is called Tentomon, the Digimon of Knowledge, and is connected to me," Izzy pointed to the bug before moving across the screen to the seal-like creature. "This is Gomamon, the Digimon of Reliability."

Joe took notice of the symbol next to the carving, understanding that he and this creature were connected to each other. Reliability sounded like a good way to describe him for he always tried to be a reliable voice of reason in the group. Trying to be and succeeding were completely different things though.

"This plant-like creature is called Palmon, and is known as the Digimon of Sincerity. That's you, Mimi."

"Sincerity," Mimi muttered as she looked at the picture of the carving. Her hand began to drift towards the screen to touch it, but Izzy swatted her hand away gently.

"Ow!" she cried, rubbing the place where Izzy smacked her. "That hurt!"

"Sorry," he apologized. "But please don't touch my screen."

"You could have just asked nicely," she huffed, folding her arms across her chest.

Izzy then pointed to the guinea pig-like creature at the corner of the screen.

"I just figured this one out last night," he explained. "This is Patamon, the Digimon of Hope, which is meant for you, TK."

The youngest of the group gazed at the picture with a fascinated look, almost as if he had been hypnotized. Something told him that he had been waiting to meet this creature for a long time, but he couldn't explain it.

"Hope, huh? I sure hope we can get back home soon," he said, which earned a chuckle from everyone else.

"What about me, Izzy?" Sora asked, waiting patiently to find out which creature she was connected to.

Izzy pointed to the carving of the bird.

"For you, Sora," he began. "This is Biyomon, the Digimon of Love."

Sora's face instantly paled, looking as if she had gotten news that her family had been killed. In a sense, she felt as though she had been punched in the stomach. Love? There had to be some mistake. Why was she chosen to personify love when she didn't know if she could feel any?

"Sora, are you ok?" Tai asked, seeing the lost look on her face. "What's the matter?"

"That can't be," she shook her head furiously. "There has to be a mistake! Please tell me that this is a sick joke, Izzy. Maybe something got lost in translation. Check again please!"

"Sora, calm down," Tai said, trying to talk her down. Even though they had known each other their whole lives, she never freaked out like this in front of him before. Sora had always been the type to keep things to herself, so much that he has to pry things out of her the hard way. "Don't get so bent out of shape. Why are you freaking out about this?"

Sora slapped his hand away as he tried to put one on her shoulder.

"Because love is not the way to describe me at all!" she shouted.

"Sure it is," he retorted. "You're always thinking about everyone else and going out of your way for them, so I think it suits you perfectly."

"No it doesn't! So, shut up and leave me alone!"

After a second of silence, Sora snapped out of her anger-induced rant and gave Tai a remorseful look.

"I'm sorry," she said contritely, her eyes burning with angry tears. "It's just that my symbol still hasn't glowed yet, and I haven't been able to connect with my lightsaber crystal."

"That's because your spirit is unbalanced, Sora," said Gennai, feeling the need to interject himself into this conversation. "The crystal can sense even the slightest hesitation, so you must be of sound mind in order to bond with it. Now what is it that has you unbalanced?"

"It's not important," she grumbled, turning away from the table with her knees hugged in tight to her body. "Don't worry about it."

"It _is_ important," Tai sat down in front of her, staring deep into her eyes with a seriousness that Sora rarely saw from him. "I've known you for a long time, Sora, and we've been through a lot together, but sometimes I just don't get you. What is it that has you so bent out of shape?"

Sora turned away to avoid his gaze, her eyes looking like a riverbank about to overflow with the amount of tears that were building up.

"You really want to know?" she muttered.

"Yes."

Taking a deep breath, she told the story of when she had played on an all-girls soccer team and was about to play the championship game when she sprained her ankle. She begged her mom to let her go so she could help the team, but Mrs. Takenouchi refused. Instead, she told Sora that she wanted her to work in the family flower shop rather than play soccer, no questions asked. Horrified, Sora then retorted with some words she shouldn't have said and stormed out of the apartment for a good while. Soon she came across the soccer field, where her team had been defeated 6-3, and her teammates walked past her like zombies, not even acknowledging her presence. It made Sora feel as though she let them all down. Like it was her fault that they lost.

No one said a word as she completed her story, for they were all too stunned to believe it. The tears in Sora's eyes were now in free fall as the emotions of that day swirled through her like a destructive typhoon.

"My mom said that I need to be a part of the family business, no question," she sniffled. "It's all she cares about, which makes me think she doesn't give much thought for me. Like I don't even matter to her."

Tai was floored by what he was hearing. All the time he had known Sora and her family, he always thought her mother was the sweetest woman he had ever met. Sure, she could be a little crisp sometimes, but he never had a bad encounter with her.

"Your mom always seems so nice though," he said. "I knew you guys had your problems, but never did I suspect something like that."

"Well, you try being her child for five minutes, Tai," Sora growled. "Seeing her in passing and living with her are completely different things, especially since my dad is away all the time. Nothing I do is good enough for her!"

Without warning, she pushed herself up from the floor, her loud sobs filling the air. As she pushed the screen door aside, she ran out into the courtyard and away from the house.

"Sora!" Tai cried as he took a step forward to run after her, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from going further.

"Just let her cry it out, Tai," Matt said, urging Tai with a look that told him it was best to leave her alone. "Let her get it out of her system and she'll be back soon."

"But-"

"I've been in her shoes before. It's best if you just let her work it out."

Tai exhaled a conflicted breath, feeling as though he should go after her but at the same time knowing that Matt was right.

' _I just hope she'll be ok.'_

* * *

Ogremon slashed a tree branch, knocking it out of his way as he tore through the forest, determined to find where the Destined Jedi were hiding to recover their strength. It had been two days since he began his pursuit of the Destined Jedi's whereabouts and did not have a single lead to go off of.

He may have been a Force-sensitive being, but Ogremon was by no means the brightest candle on the cake. Whenever Devimon would send him out to do a job, it was usually to find some Digimon that were making trouble on the island and put a stop to it, usually within their territory. On Server, he was completely out of his league; taking two days to cross a vast desert and slip through a forest, and having no idea where the Destined Jedi had gone.

"Rrrrgh! Where are you stupid kids!" Ogremon growled to himself, his frustration starting to reach a peak. "Show yourselves so I can destroy you!"

Rustling up ahead caught his attention. Sneaking quietly through the brush, he saw a female human running past him with tears in her eyes. A rush of Force energy alerted itself to him as she ran by. As he got a better look, he recognized her as one of the Destined Jedi. He couldn't believe his luck.

"Now Lord Devimon will have no choice but to give me a promotion for this," he snickered as he quietly followed her while being hidden amongst the foliage.

After a half-mile, the girl finally stopped in front of a tree. The tears in her eyes gave way to a forlorn look as she slid down into a sitting position, the bark on the tree scratching her back. Ogremon watched her for several minutes as she continued to sulk.

' _Better get ready, little one,'_ he thought as he quietly inched towards the tree she was at. _'Because here I come.'_

* * *

Sora gazed at her lightsaber with a look of disgust. The Jedi of Love? It didn't make any sense to her. As the sounds of the forest surrounded her, she was tempted to find the nearest lake and toss the lightsaber away. Then she could go home and not have anything to do with this, not that it would be much better.

Now that she thought about it, perhaps her father just showed affection in order to soften the blow of him being away all the time. Maybe he didn't love her as much as she thought he did, only believing he did because that's what he wanted her to think. Her whole life started to make sense now.

' _I have no love, and no one who was able to show me love throughout my life,'_ she thought miserably as the tears streamed down her face some more.

Clutching her lightsaber in her fist, she was ready to throw it deep into the forest so it could never be found, until the snapping of a twig broke her out of her stupor. Calming her mind, she used the Force to sense her surroundings, eventually feeling a high concentration of Force energy behind her.

Before she could make a single move, the activation of two lightsabers fell upon her ears, followed by something landing on the dirt path with a thud. A familiar chuckle then made its presence known.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Ogremon cackled. "A Destined Jedi, primed and ready to fall to my awesome power."

Sora's face cringed at the cheesiness of his words. He needed to learn how to be more threatening because it made him seem like a cartoon.

"Ogremon," she said, activating her lightsaber and holding it closer to her body to prepare for anything that the Digimon would try to do. "What are you doing here and why were you following me?"

"I have orders from my master, Lord Devimon, to find and destroy you and your little pals," he replied, flashing his twin red lightsabers. "And now I've found you. Once I finish you off, I'll find the rest of your friends and destroy them before you can complete your training. After that, nothing will stand between my lord and complete domination of the Digital World."

Sora calmed her mind as she tried to balance herself. In order to defeat the ogre Digimon, she knew she had to be of sound mind.

"You will do no such thing," she retorted, wiping some stray tears from her face and clutching her lightsaber tight.

* * *

Tai snapped out of his meditative state after sensing a disturbance in the Force. Something told him that it had to do with Sora, but he couldn't confirm it. His Force abilities were getting stronger, but not strong enough yet that he could sense things clearly.

He and the others had settled in for their third meditation session of the day, the drama with Sora earlier still fresh in their minds that they could hardly focus on the task at hand. He could tell that it was bothering everyone as well, not just him.

"Sora's in trouble," he muttered. "I can sense it."

"Tai, please be quiet," Matt whispered next to him. "We're trying to focus. You should do the same."

"I can't when I have the nagging suspicion that Sora could be in danger," he hissed, showing his gritted teeth at the blonde. "We have to go help her."

"You're probably still just upset about earlier," Izzy put his two cents into the conversation. "I'm sure that Sora will be back in a little while. Don't be so paranoid."

"Whatever," Tai stood up from his seated position and walked towards the door to their room. "I'm not going to take any chances, Izzy. You guys want to stay, fine, but I'm going. You're the Jedi of Friendship, Matt. Act like it!"

Those words cut deep into Matt's heart as Tai stormed out of the room, leaving him conflicted on how to approach the situation. On one side, he thought the goggle-headed boy was being borderline paranoid because even if Sora was in trouble, she was more than capable of defending herself. On the other side, in her emotional state, she would not be able to think clearly and thus would be more susceptible to making mistakes that could get her hurt, or even killed.

Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on pinpointing Sora's energy to see if Tai's suspicions were correct. A great pain surrounded Sora's aura, which he knew to be the turmoil within her, but a shiver also went down his spine as a dark energy began to make its presence known. It was an energy he hadn't sensed, or he just ignored, before now.

' _She's in trouble.'_

With a sigh of resolve, he made his choice.

"Tai may be right," he said. "I sense something is wrong with Sora as well. Come on, TK."

The younger blonde followed his brother out the door, anxious to finally put his newfound saber skills to work against a real opponent.

Matt must have sensed his intentions because he said, "Don't even think about it, kiddo. You stay behind me at all times."

"Aw! Come on, Matt!" TK pleaded.

"No. I couldn't live with myself if something were to happen to you. Remember Devimon?"

The mention of that encounter sent a shiver down the young boy's spine. Remembering how close he came to being killed at the hands of the evil Digimon was something he did not want to remember for as long as he lived.

With a sigh, TK reluctantly yielded to his brother's wish. "Ok."

"Now let's go."

* * *

The forest resonated with the sound of lightsabers clashing echoing off of the trees and piercing the quiet atmosphere.

Sora was holding her own quite well compared to previous encounters, but she was beginning to run out of energy due to the swiftness and ferocity of Ogremon's attacks. He was unlike any opponent she had faced before. His dual lightsaber attack tested her to the limits of her training due to having to keep the second lightsaber in mind.

She quickly dodged as Ogremon brought down the lightsaber in his right hand like a club and then tied up his other lightsaber in a lock. He then brought his other lightsaber into it, putting her against the strength of two lightsabers rather than one. Her heart pounded as it struggled to supply oxygen to her body, telling her that she wouldn't last much longer if she kept it up at this rate.

Drawing up whatever strength she could, she pushed their locked lightsabers to the side and broke into a sprint away from Ogremon as he slashed at air. Sora hid behind the nearest tree she could find to try and evade his detection, as well as catch her breath.

"I know you're there, Destined Jedi," Ogremon's sneering voice came. "You can't hide forever."

Sora clamped her gloved hand over her mouth so that her breathing did not echo loudly through the trees and alert Ogremon to her position. Her terror rose as a silence fell upon the area around her.

A lightsaber cut through a tree nearby, the cracking of the bark loud as thunder as the tree fell to the ground.

"No one is here to save you now," Ogremon continued to taunt. "Nor is anyone coming. You're all alone out here."

Sora sighed sadly.

' _He's right. I am alone.'_

She clutched her lightsaber tightly, ready to make a run for it before Ogremon could reach her. Hopefully she could get through the forest without him detecting her, and then she would find her own way back home. It was better than staying in the Digital World.

But before her brain could send the message to her feet to start running, the overpowering foulness of Ogremon's smell reached her nose. He was right on her.

"There you are," he chuckled darkly. Sora did not need to look behind her to know that he was preparing to chop down the tree with his twin lightsabers.

"Hey, ogre breath!"

The ogre turned to look behind him, which gave Sora enough courage to look from around the tree. Tai and Matt stood where the trees gave way to the clearing she and Ogremon just came from. Even if it appeared to be just the two of them, Sora sensed that TK was nearby as well.

"You want us, well here we are!" Tai's eyes narrowed as he held his lightsaber like a baseball bat, the bright blue blade humming just mere inches from his head.

"And leave our friend alone," Matt echoed, bringing his lightsaber over his head.

"Well, well, well," Ogremon's smirk grew even wider. "Two more to the party, not that I'm complaining; the more, the merrier."

"Be careful what you wish for," Tai retorted as he and Matt leapt into the treetops and worked their way towards Ogremon, leaping from tree to tree like monkeys.

Ogremon glanced towards either side, unsure of who to prepare for first, when Tai and Matt jumped down at the same time. Their lightsabers clashed in a whirlwind of color as Ogremon deflected each attack that came his way. Matt let Tai handle the attacks while he defended due to having a stronger defense between the two.

From behind a bush just a few meters away, TK parted the leaves to watch in amazement as the action unfolded before him. How he desperately wanted to get into the action, but his brother's order rang in his head and so he shrunk back into the bush before he could be seen.

Tai somersaulted into a quick slash to try and knock Ogremon off balance, but the Digimon seemed to have read his mind because he used the Force to push Tai into a tree nearby, stunning the boy upon impact.

Taking advantage of the situation, Matt kicked Ogremon in the chest, sending him back only a couple of inches, but it was all he needed as he pressed the attack; powerful strike after powerful strike, almost overpowering the twin lightsaber attack coming from Ogremon.

"Sora, get out of here!" Matt called as their lightsabers clashed in a lock. "Tai and I will hold him off as long as we can! Just get out of here!"

Still behind the tree, Sora didn't know what to do. She could stay behind the tree and eventually get caught, or she could run and save herself at the expense of her friends being injured or killed.

"I can't leave you!" she replied. "You guys will be killed!"

"We're not important."

Matt was then punched in the jaw, staggering him before falling to the ground to collect himself. He looked up to see Ogremon's evil grin as he raised his lightsaber up to do the deed.

"Say good night, Destined Jedi," he cackled as he began to bring it down.

A Force push, however, caught him off guard. Matt looked up to see that Tai was the one who saved him, but their victory was short-lived as Ogremon unleashed a Force push so powerful that it sent them both to the edge of the forest. There was no one left between him and Sora.

Unable to watch any longer, Sora stepped out from behind the tree and activated her lightsaber. If this grotesque creature thought he was going to mess with her and her friends, he had another thing coming.

"Sora!"

She and Ogremon both turned to see Izzy, Joe, and Mimi all stand near the edge of the forest, along with Gennai. The sight of them filled her heart with even more joy, knowing that they too had come to find her.

"Come on, we've gotta help!" Joe cried as he began to rush into the forest, his hand grabbing his lightsaber, until he was stopped by Gennai's fist rising up in front of his stomach. He collided with it, knocking the wind out of him for a short time.

"Stay out of this," said Gennai. "This is Sora's battle."

Joe doubled over in pain, wheezing as he struggled to get his air under him. Izzy and Mimi wanted to jump in and help, but obeyed Gennai's order and watched helplessly.

Ogremon took advantage of their inability to help.

"Friends or not, you must realize you are DOOOOOOOMED!" he smirked, his voice booming through the entire forest.

Sora was so focused on her opponent that she failed to notice that the heart symbol on her arm was glowing at long last. Energy flowed through her until it felt like a powder keg about to blow. Knowing her friends cared for her gave her the strength she needed to continue fighting.

"Oh I don't think so," she smirked right back, her eyes now filled with determination, as she finally let all the built-up energy out from the palm of her hand.

She grunted as the Force push pushed Ogremon back as far as he had pushed Matt and Tai, towards the edge of the forest. She looked at her arm in amazement. She had finally gotten her symbol to glow, and it was all because Matt and Tai let her know that they cared about her. Maybe she did have people that loved her after all.

"Alright, now the big guns are coming out," she said hoarsely as she ran towards Ogremon.

Ogremon was too busy trying to gather himself that he was not prepared to defend Sora's attacks. Every strike from her knocked him off balance, and she did not stop at any point to let him get settled.

One strike knocked both lightsabers out of his hands and Sora Force pushed him again.

"Rrgh! Screw this! I'm out of here!" the ogre growled as he stomped away. "You may have gotten past me, but you will not stop Lord Devimon!"

Sora watched him leave, knowing that he was right about one thing: this was only the beginning of something that they had yet to face. It sent a chill down her spine as she attended to Matt and Tai to make sure they were all right.

"Are you guys ok?"

Tai nodded. "Yeah, we're fine. Old Ogre Breath is going to have to do something far worse to take us out," he chuckled.

"Can I come out now?" TK made his presence known to the three of them, his face barely peaking out from the shrubs.

"Yeah, the coast is clear," Matt replied, nodding his head to assure TK that it was all right.

The young boy almost tripped over a root as he stepped out of the foliage. His clothes were rustled from being poked by shrubbery.

"It was really starting to become uncomfortable in there," he said, wiping an itch on his nose with the sleeve of his shirt. His attention then turned to Sora.

"Sora, I know you feel like you don't have anyone that loves you, but I like you," he said, giving her a lopsided grin. "When I'm with you, I don't miss my mom as much."

A spark of warmth flowed through Sora, visibly moved by the young boy's praise. He thought so highly of her that she became a mother figure to him? She didn't feel worthy of such praise, but she smiled and ruffled his head anyway.

"Thanks, little guy," she said.

"I guess you are capable of love after all, eh?" Tai chuckled.

Sora nodded and smiled with a chuckle. "I guess so."

"Family doesn't end in blood, Sora." Izzy chimed in.

"Hey, you lot!" Gennai's voice then came, followed by footsteps. The rest of the kids accompanied the old man as they reached the others, thankful to see that they were unhurt.

"Are you all ok?" he asked, to which they nodded.

"Quickly! It won't be long now before Devimon knows that we're here. Let's go back to the house, for tomorrow…your final test begins. Prepare yourselves."

"F-final test?" Joe asked nervously, not liking the sound of his voice one bit.

"You will find out soon enough, Joe. No time to explain."

Not only was Joe apprehensive about what lured, but the others were as well. After two weeks, they were about to be full-fledged Jedi, which should have been exciting to them. Instead, they worried about what their last test would bring.

* * *

 **DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN! What will this final test be, and will the Destined Jedi pass it? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **So Sora finally gets her symbol to glow, but don't think this means that she's all right in terms of how she feels about her mom. That will be sorted out later, so be ready for that. For the moment where she uses the Force for the first time, I know that it was just like Obi Wan and General Grievous in Revenge of the Sith, but it was such a fitting moment for me to use that I couldn't help it. Only two, three maximum, chapters left in the training arc. Your patience will be handsomely rewarded very soon. Trust me ;-)** **And we finally learn what the names of the creatures are! Hooray!**

 **One more thing. As I'm sure many of you heard, Shoko Asahara, the cult leader who orchestrated the sarin gas attack in Tokyo in 1995, was executed yesterday. The people of Japan can rest easier now that he's dead.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read because it motivates me to churn these chapters out for you guys. You all are the best I could ask for. I mean that. See you all next week.**


	14. The Final Test- Part 1

**Hey all. Welcome to yet another chapter in 'The Destined Jedi'. This chapter is unique in that it is actually divided into two parts because the situation called for it. If I were to put this chapter up in its entirety, it would be over 12,000 words long (easily the longest chapter I have ever done). I knew that would be exhausting to read so I broke it down. There are the last two chapters of the training arc.**

 **Let's get to my usual people and their reviews. Feel free to leave one so I can answer your questions.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yup, I did use Obi Wan and General Grievous's confrontation for that moment because it worked so well for what I wanted to do. Glad to know you are enjoying the story as always.**

 **Music Chick: I know you have my back, which is why I love you so much. That was my favorite line too.**

 **And thanks always to Emperor Serperior. I loved talking with you and always enjoy your support for the story. You'll love this two-part chapter because it answers your questions from a while back.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The kids stood nervously at the edge of a thick, dark, forest. The canopies were so thick that no sunlight could get through, making it seem darker than it already was, even though it was the middle of the day. Long, towering birch trees stretched all the way up to the heavens. Gazing deep into the forest, the howling of the wind and the caws of crows filled the air. Looking deeper, they could see mist floating over the forest floor and the birch trees slowly give way to giant oak trees with thick roots that strung along the path.

Joe was trying hard not to wet himself from the fear he felt, instead he was shaking like a leaf. Everyone else gulped nervously as the darkness of the forest sent unsettling chills down their spines. The dark side of the Force was strong in the forest.

"Gennai…why are we here?" Tai asked, desperately trying to be as brave as he could, even though he was just as scared as the others.

The old man smiled with a slight chuckle in his voice as he spoke.

"You are all about to face your final test," he said. "This will be the most difficult thing any of you have ever faced in your lives. The main task I am assigning you is to go into the forest and find a beast that is strong in the Force. They will be drawn to the crystals of your lightsabers, and once you find them, rid them of their dark thoughts."

"How do we do that?" asked Matt.

"As soon as the beast comes in contact with you, reach out and touch them, for they will do the same. Once you make contact, this will rid them of their dark thoughts and allow them to speak with you."

Tai snorted an exhale from his nose.

"Seems easy enough," he shrugged.

"Oh I wouldn't be too sure about that, Tai," Gennai snickered. "The challenge to this is something that you will have to overcome; not fearsome creatures, not any external forces, but within yourselves. You see, the forest is able to sense your worst fears and worst experiences. It will do everything it can to make sure you do not reach the beasts, so stay on your toes and do not give in to fear."

The kids stood silently as they took this all in. Having to not only walk into the deepest, darkest forest in the entire Digital World to find a beast strong with the Force, but also to face their worst experiences was almost too much to ask of them. Then again, a lot of the things they had done in their nearly month-long stay in the Digital World would not be considered easy in the real world.

Gennai then pointed to seven paths into the forest, each leading to a separate part and never crossing.

"Now choose a path," he said. "But be very weary; you could just lose yourselves along the way."

That warning echoed in the children's heads as they continued to stare at the unwelcoming façade of the forest. Two crows flew into the branches of a tree in front of them and cawed loudly at them. Mimi and Joe jumped almost two feet in the air in fright while everyone else was merely startled.

"I am not going in there!" Joe cried, his knees buckling in fear. "It's too dark and scary!"

"And we have no idea what we'll find in there," Mimi echoed, sounding like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.

Tai growled in frustration, trying to mask his own fear by putting on a brave face.

"Guys, we have to do this," he said. "There's no other way. I know it seems scary, but you can't let your fear control you. Everything is going to be ok."

He then moved towards the path in front of him. Turning around to look at everyone one last time, he said, "Good luck," before wandering into the mist-covered path and disappearing from sight.

Sora then stepped forward, swallowing a lump in her throat as the darkness ahead beckoned to her like a siren call. She clutched her lightsaber to try and provide her some reassurance.

"Well, here I go," she said as she walked into the forest.

Matt and TK issued each other a goodbye with Matt assuring his younger brother that they would be reunited soon, reminding him to be brave, before they disappeared into the mist. Izzy then followed. Joe and Mimi stood frozen in indecision for a few more moments before gathering enough courage to walk into the mist that awaited them.

* * *

Whispers circulated the air, sending shivers down Tai's spine. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but they were there and that was enough to unsettle him. He treaded lightly as his feet moved across the mossy ground beneath him. To try and keep himself calm, he focused on each step.

 _Right. Left. Right. Left,'_ he kept chanting in his head.

As he moved further down the path, the whispers moving through the trees grew louder until he could finally make out what they were saying.

"There is nothing for you here," they said as the wind picked up, covering the entire path in eternal darkness. "Turn back now."

Thorns then popped out of the ground in front of Tai, which caused him to fall back on his butt in surprise. He rubbed his backside as the pain shot through his tailbone. The roots of the thorns stretched up four inches off the ground, waiting to trip an unsuspecting fool that was stupid enough to wander in without backup.

Activating his blue lightsaber, Tai slashed the roots out of his way so that the path was unblocked for him to continue walking. The humming of his lightsaber was the only thing that filled the forest air once the whispers dissipated.

After walking another few steps, fog began to cover the forest floor. It was so thick that Tai could not see his feet, nor anything else up ahead other than the bases of trees. He hesitantly took a few more steps, curious as to what lay ahead, when suddenly the forest itself moved as the ground shook with a ferocity that rivaled an earthquake. The shaking was so powerful that it sent Tai to the ground.

As if things couldn't get any worse, a booming voice echoed through the trees, sounding like something from the depths of Hell.

"The dark side reigns over this part," it roared. "Leave now, or prepare to face that which you are most ashamed of."

Tai cocked an eyebrow before answering, "Most ashamed of? What do you mean?"

"In order to find what you most desire, you must face the one thing you are most ashamed of. Take the risk, and you shall be rewarded; fail to do so, and you will not become a true Destined Jedi. What say you?"

Tai weighed his options. He had a task to complete, so he may as well step forward to confront that which was his greatest shame. Gennai's words echoed through his mind.

' _The forest is able to sense your worst fears and worst experiences. It will do everything it can to make sure you do not reach the beasts, so stay on your toes and do not give in to fear.'_

' _So that's what Gennai meant when he said that the forest will do whatever it can to test me,'_ he realized. _'I haven't come this far only to stop now.'_

"I will press forward," Tai answered the mysterious voice. "Using the big voice is not going to scare me."

Ahead of him, a group of thorns that were intertwined to create a barricade parted, giving Tai a glimpse into even more darkness that stretched as far as the eye could see. A chill went down his spine because of all the dark side energy he could sense.

"Proceed," the voice bellowed.

He nodded with an exhale through his nose and continued walking without a moment to lose.

More mist swirled around him as the entire forest began to be blanketed in it, obscuring everything. Tai couldn't even see any of the trees beside him, which concerned him greatly. To be safe, he kept his lightsaber gripped tightly in his hands as it hummed.

The mist then parted to reveal a familiar setting: his family's apartment. On the couch was a little girl with a cat laying on her lap and a cup of orange juice on the table beside her. She was very pale, a sign of a fever, and was watching cartoons on the television. Tai's eyes widened when he realized that it was Kari when she was very little, no older than four or five, and curled up on her lap was their family cat Miko.

Suddenly, the door opened and a voice called out, "Hey, I'm home!"

The little girl turned to see a younger Tai, age: eight, taking his shoes off in the foyer before stepping onto the hardwood floors.

"Hi," she meekly smiled.

"Hey," he answered. "Feeling better?"

Kari nodded. "Yes."

Looking at her, she did seem to be okay to Tai. A grin began to cross his young face as an idea came to his mind.

"Wanna go outside and play with me?" he asked. "I don't want to leave you here alone."

She nodded again. "Ok."

Watching from afar, Tai's face was one of horror as he realized what was about to happen. Everything started to come back to him as he watched the events unfold. This was one moment that had stayed with him for three years, and possibly will for the rest of his life.

"No! Don't go out there!" he cried, reaching his hand out to try and stop them, but it was in vain.

The scene then changed in a blur. Sirens blared all around as Kari was carried away in a stretcher onto an ambulance. Little Tai watched helplessly, not moving from the spot he saw Kari collapse. He was in a complete catatonic state.

They were at the hospital now and Mrs. Kamiya charged towards him, panting as though she had run a marathon.

"TAI!" she roared as she tried to catch her breath. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!"

Tai turned away from the scene as a slapping sound resonated through the entire mist. Tears spilled from his eyes as his hand subconsciously placed itself on his cheek, remembering the burn of the mark she gave him.

"WHAT COULD YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING?! YOU KNEW SHE WAS SICK!"

"I'm sorry," he muttered, even though she couldn't hear him, weeping as he kept his eyes closed, tears in complete free fall.

All that Tai could hear next were her sobs as the mist swirled even faster than before. He didn't need to look to know how the rest played out. Kari had ended up with pneumonia, and almost didn't make it. Thankfully she did, but what came next really stuck the knife in his heart.

"Tai," Kari squeaked out in a weak voice from their father's arms. "I'm sorry I can't kick the ball very good. You'll probably never want to play with me again."

He couldn't take it anymore. Tai sobbed loudly as he dropped to his knees. His pained cries echoed throughout the forest as the emotional scars on his psyche were ripped open. His lightsaber fell from his hand and landed on the ground with a metallic thud. He had been reduced to nothing but a crying mess.

"It wasn't all your fault, you know," the mysterious voice returned as the mist around Tai dissipated. "You didn't know that would happen."

"But I should have known better!" Tai shouted in distress. "Kari could have died, and I would have to live with that for the rest of my life. I almost killed my own sister!"

"So is that why you are afraid to lead everyone, because you're afraid that someone will die on your watch and you'll have to live with it?"

Tai sniffled as he started to get himself back under control after the floodgates had opened. He wiped his nose, which was dripping in mucus, and then his eyes with the back of his gloved hand.

"I guess so," he answered slowly. "I just want to make sure everyone is safe, and I'm afraid that something will happen. With Devimon, if it weren't for Leomon, poor TK would have been killed, and Matt would have lost his brother."

"But that didn't happen," the voice replied. "You've led them this far, and Kari never hated you for what happened. Why should you hate yourself when she doesn't hate you?"

Tai sniffled before replying, "Because I'm her big brother! It's my job to watch over her, protect her, and make sure nothing happens to her."

"Remember that without the fear of losing those close to you, there cannot be the courage to do the right thing, Jedi of Courage. You have done well."

The voice then disappeared. Once it did, growling sounds replaced it as Tai turned around to see a dark figure outlined completely in black, with grey pupils in its eyes, looking right at him. It was in the shape of a dinosaur, a small Tyrannosaurus Rex, and it slowly approached him.

Tai was afraid that it had come to make him its lunch, so he picked up his lightsaber and activated it quickly, which caused the creature to halt its advance. It let out an interested vocalization as it looked at the bright blue blade.

Something inside of Tai told him that this was the creature he was meant to find. The way it looked at his lightsaber, and the amount of Force energy he felt swelling within it, clued him in to everything he needed to know.

The creature began its advance once again, slowly this time, as it reached out towards Tai. Feeling the pull towards it, Tai stretched out his other hand towards the creature as well.

His hand then joined the claws of its appendage, and when that happened, a bright orange light erupted from the symbol on his arm. The sheer brightness of it forced Tai to shield his eyes. Once the light dulled, he saw a bright yellow-orange dinosaur with green eyes looking back at him.

"Hello, Tai," it said in a mystical, high-pitched voice. Its top teeth poked out from its lip, giving him a pleasant smile. "It is so nice to finally meet you after all this time."

Tai looked at the dinosaur with a look of awe, something in his brain told him that he knew its name.

"Your name wouldn't happen to be Agumon, now would it?" he asked.

The dinosaur nodded. "That's right. My name is Agumon, and I am your Digimon guide."

"Digimon guide?" Tai replied, a confused look sweeping across his face. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that it is my job to help you in times of trouble and whenever you need help making decisions. Whatever you need me for, I will always be there to help you."

"Hmph," Tai exhaled, trying to take in all this information at once. "What kinds of situations?"

"Ones such as when you and your other friends first came to the Digital World," replied Agumon. "I was the one that helped you find that hiding tree when you and Izzy hid from Kuwagamon."

Tai's eyes widened in realization. "It was you who told me where to hide. And here I thought I was hearing things when that happened."

Agumon nodded. "That's right. You have no idea how long I have waited to meet you, Tai. I was almost afraid you would never come, but sure enough, here you are. You have passed your test. Go on now…Destined Jedi of Courage."

He then disappeared, leaving Tai with a renewed sense of hope. Looking down at the sun symbol on his arm, he could feel Agumon's Force energy surging through him, assuring him that no matter what happened, he would have someone there alongside him to make sure he was the leader he knew he could be.

* * *

Matt ran down the dark path as fast as his legs could carry him, having the nagging suspicion that something was following him. He didn't want to know what it was so he just ran. To provide some light for himself, he had activated his green lightsaber. Even with that, it only illuminated up to three feet in front of him, which wasn't much.

The eerie sounds of the forest continued on around him: the cawing of crows, the sound of twigs snapping under his every step, and leaves rustling from the wind blowing through them. Matt liked to think that he was past being scared of the dark, but this unsettled him more than just simply being stuck in a dark room.

He kept his lightsaber clutched tightly in his hand so if something ever jumped out, he was ready to defend himself. His fast stride turned into a slow walk once he was sure that he had put some distance between himself and whatever that may have been following him.

' _I sure hope TK's doing okay without me,'_ he thought to himself as the darkness seemed to be closing in around him. The little boy was probably helpless and terrified without him there beside him.

' _Then again, we have been living apart for the last four years since our folks got divorced,'_ he remembered. _'So I guess he'll be all right for a little while.'_

A strong gust of wind blew across his face, tossing his hair in all directions. Matt raised his non-saber wielding arm to shield himself from it when a loud, piercing scream filled the air.

' _Mimi!'_ he realized before breaking out into a run once again. He charged through the brush and leapt over tree roots to try and find the path that connected to Mimi's.

After taking a left turn, he found himself in the middle of a field of elephant grass that stretched as high as the trees themselves. The raptor scene from _The Lost World: Jurassic Park_ played in his mind as he debated whether or not he should go into it because he didn't know what could be in there. There very well could be raptors waiting for him, he thought with an incredulous chuckle. In which case, he was more than prepared to handle whatever came his way as long as he had his lightsaber with him.

Without another thought, he ran into the elephant grass, slashing it down with his lightsaber like a machete to clear all sides of it so he could see. He finally emerged into a clearing after a few paces.

"Mimi?" he called, scanning the darkness for any signs of her pink hat, but found none.

"Where are you?" he called again, looking even harder this time. Still, he found nothing. "Just great, Matt," he muttered to himself. "You're hearing things now. This forest is giving me the creeps."

As he resumed walking through the grass, he noticed a mist starting to gather around him. Matt kept himself on high alert as it blotted out the field of grass around him, keeping his lightsaber hung over his head in the Djem So stance.

His heart pounded with anticipation and fear as he awaited what he knew was about to come out of the mist, for he could sense it with every ounce of Force energy in his body. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as he waited.

"I can't do this anymore!" a loud male voice yelled at the top of their lungs. "I just think that we're better off apart, Nancy!"

"Fine! If that's the way you feel about it, then I won't stop you!" another voice cried, this one female. "Get out!"

Matt stepped forward to see what was the cause of the yelling. His jaw dropped once he did.

The mist gave way to a scene he knew all too well: his family's apartment in Hikarigaoka in Nerima, in the northwestern part of Tokyo. His mother and father were having another one of their daily arguments that became all too commonplace when he and TK were really young.

Sure enough, he saw two young blonde haired boys hiding behind a doorway. The older one had tears in his eyes as their parents continued to argue while the younger one didn't seem to understand what was going on. A pang of sympathy shot through his heart as he watched them. They didn't deserve to witness something like this.

As Matt continued to watch, he saw a scene of the day the divorce was final and they all went their separate ways: Matt going with his father, and TK leaving hand-in-hand with their mother, not understanding anything major other than he was going to live with her from now on. The seven-year-old blonde watched helplessly as his mother and little brother disappeared from sight as he and his father got into the car and drove away.

Matt's heart wrenched as his younger self started to cry in the back seat of the car, sparking tears of his own as the feelings he tried so hard to keep bottled up finally let loose. Not wanting anyone around to see him bawl like a little kid, he sniffled and tried to wipe away his tears.

"Why am I reliving this?" he demanded silently as the tears continued to pour down his cheeks. "Is there something I need to know?"

Growling came from the tall grass, along with the sounds of rustling. Matt tucked his lightsaber close to him to try and keep whatever was coming at a distance from him. His eyes darted across the field, looking for the source of the growling.

The sounds grew nearer as a patch of grass next to him started to shake, causing him to jump back in surprise. He pointed his lightsaber towards the grass, sweat dripping down his forehead as he waited.

A dark figure outlined entirely in black emerged from the grass. It was a small dog-like creature with a horn on top of its head, a tail jutting from its pelt. Its pupils were a bright grey, and they were fixed entirely on Matt.

For some reason, Matt did not feel frightened by its presence. By all accounts, he should have been scared, but he wasn't. Instead, he felt a connection with the beast. It had stopped growling and started gazing at his lightsaber. Matt noticed, and started moving it around just to see what would happen. The creature's eyes followed the saber everywhere he moved it, which reassured him that it didn't want to make him its lunch.

Matt's symbol began to flicker with light as it hovered over the creature, which gave him an idea. He deactivated his lightsaber to reach out and touch its paw, causing it to reach out towards him as well. Once Matt's fingers melded with its claws, his symbol glowed with a blinding light that nearly blinded him for several seconds until it finally subsided.

A yellow wolf-like creature with a blue pelt stood before Matt. It had a symbol on its stomach that was nearly identical to the one on his arm, and red eyes that displayed a warm kindness towards Matt.

The creature smiled. "Hello, Matt," it greeted. "You finally came. My name is Gabumon, and I am your Digimon guide."

Matt was taken aback. It had just spoken to him.

"Digimon what?" he asked, his face white with surprise.

"Digimon guide," Gabumon repeated, the smile never leaving his face. "Whenever times of trouble arise, I am there to help you through them. Now what is it that troubles you, Jedi of Friendship?"

Matt took a deep breath before replying, "All my life I've kept to myself. I never had a lot of friends when I was growing up so I never had someone to help me through my parents' divorce. Now I have friends, but I don't know how to deal with it."

Gabumon gave a sympathetic look before wrapping his arms around Matt's neck in a comforting hug. Once the warmth spread over him, Matt finally allowed himself to break down in tears, sobbing into Gabumon's fur.

"You don't have to be lonely anymore, Matt," he said as the boy continued to cry. "For one thing, you have me as your friend. I can feel the love that you have for the others in your group, as well as your brother. Don't be afraid to show them how much you care about them. Before you came along, I didn't have many friends myself either; I waited hoping that some day you would come, and you did."

A small smile broadened on Matt's tear-stricken face. So this was what it was like to have a friend. Gabumon was a good listener, he thought, that it was easy to talk to him.

"But why me?" he asked. "What did you see in me that made you think I was capable of these things?"

The Digimon smiled.

"Because of your heart, Matt," he replied. "I can sense what is in your heart, and that gives me all the reason I need to know you are the right person for the job. Have confidence in yourself, Matt. If you do, then others will like you for who you are."

Gabumon then disappeared, leaving Matt alone in the middle of the field. A warm feeling began to spread through him for even though Gabumon wasn't physically next to him, he still could feel his presence. He looked down at the symbol on his arm, still glowing with Force energy.

"Friendship," he muttered before giving a nod. "Ok."

* * *

Sora jumped as the call of a crow erupted from the darkness of the forest. She turned her head slightly to the left to see the bird staring right back at her. It turned its head curiously, wondering what this strange human was doing in the forest.

Sora couldn't think of anything else to do other than speak to it.

"Hi," she said hesitantly, not expecting it to reply back. "I'm looking for a beast that is strong with the Force. Would you mind helping me look for one?"

The crow flew away from the branch it was perched on with a cry, flying deeper into the forest. For some strange reason, Sora felt as though it wanted her to follow, which she did after a few moments of hesitation.

She ran blindly down the path as she kept an eye on the bird, not sure where it was leading her but hoping it was to the creature she was looking for. The air then grew quiet, the crow's cry fading further and further away until Sora could hear it no more.

She sharply turned in all directions to try and locate it, but she could not find the black bird flying nearby.

Fear flowed within Sora as she realized that she didn't know where she was. Not paying attention to where she was going, she had been counting on the crow to lead her in the right direction.

"Well thanks a lot!" she shouted into the forest, angry that the crow had ditched her.

She spun in a circle to try and determine which way she should continue on, but every option seemed as good as the others. Why did she have to follow the crow and lose her way? She should have known it was dangerous to stray away from the path when walking in a forest.

A loud, piercing cry from above made her leap almost two feet in the air, a scream from another world. Sora immediately took off and ran, not wanting to see what the source of the cry was. Pushing past leaves, stray branches, and briar patches, she ran as if her life depended on it. Her arms were scratched up with several bleeding cuts, but she pressed forward undaunted.

Coming up to a fork, she ran down the path to the right, thinking that she could lose the mysterious creature that way. Her body ached in protest as she continued running; her calves burned, and she felt a stitch starting to poke into her side. She slowed down, breathing heavily before placing her hands on her knees to try and catch her breath.

' _I think I lost it,'_ she thought as her heart stabilized from its pounding state. _'Phew, that was scary.'_

Sora wasn't in the clear yet as a mist began to gather around her. For a second, she feared that something bigger was about to emerge. Her lightsaber activated with an ignition that pierced the deafening silence of the forest, providing her with all the protection she would need.

"Why can't you understand me?!" a familiar cry rang out.

She turned, searching for the source of the voice in the mist. When she turned, a most peculiar sight greeted her: she was inside of her family's apartment. Seated on cushions was a brown-haired woman in a kimono tending to a pot of flowers and across from her, a young Sora in her soccer uniform.

"Honestly, Sora," her mother drawled. "You are just like your father: headstrong and don't know when to quit."

"Well, good!" the auburn-haired girl cried. "I'd much rather be like him than you! Don't you even care about him? Why do you never call him when he's away?"

"Sora-"

"GO TO HELL!"

The girl then stormed out of the apartment in tears, slamming the door behind her as she did so. Mrs. Takenouchi rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath as she stood up to go after her daughter.

After stepping outside, Sora had already reached the bottom floor. Mrs. Takenouchi remained on the terrace and watched as Sora ran away from the apartment building. With a sad sigh, she turned to come back inside.

"What am I going to do with her?" she muttered.

Sora watched on as the burdened woman sat down on the sofa with her eyes peered down at the floor. What she saw next shook her beyond words: her mother started crying. The sobs were silent, but Sora could see her body heaving as the emotions of what had just transpired worked themselves out of her.

"Oh, Mom," she said with a forlorn look, wanting to reach out and comfort her in any way she could, but her body stopped her from doing that. Never in her eleven years of life did she ever see her mother cry; she always seemed to be this cold, unemotional robot that wouldn't show much emotion in front of others.

With a cloud of mist swirling before her eyes, the scene changed to where her mother was now out on the balcony with the phone raised to her ear. A cigarette hung between the fingers of her left hand as she looked out onto the skyline of Odaiba, waiting for the head of auburn hair to grace her sight.

"She hates me," she said weakly into the phone, taking a drag from the cigarette.

" _No,"_ the voice on the other line, which Sora could clearly discern to be her father, replied back.

With a sniffle, Mrs. Takenouchi repeated the phrase. "She does. She hates me."

" _No, honey,"_ Mr. Takenouchi assured her. _"Nothing she said meant anything. She's just a little girl."_

"She's old enough. I just don't know what to do with her, Haruhiko. I've tried everything, but she just keeps pulling away from me. I'm at my wit's end."

Watching this exchange finally brought Sora to tears as the mist began to dissipate around her, bringing her back to the forest path. She silently cried as the guilt began to eat at her heart. She and her mother had their problems, but she wouldn't go so far as to say she hated her. The fact her mother believed she did was enough to send Sora into an emotional tailspin.

Something fluttered down from the trees onto a log beside Sora, but she didn't notice due to the tears blinding her vision. A soft coo, like that of a pigeon, alerted Sora to its presence.

She let out a startled scream as she looked at the avian figure on the log. It was outlined completely in black and was preoccupied with preening its feathers to care about what the human girl was doing.

Sora wiped her eyes free of tears and observed as the bird gazed up from its feathers to look at her. Cocking its head, it stared for a good few seconds before stretching out a wing towards her. Her symbol started to glow a faint red as she hesitantly raised her right arm. The light got brighter as her hand inched closer to the bird's wing, feeling a deep connection with it that couldn't be explained.

Once her hand made contact, the light gave a blinding glow that brought light to the dark forest. Sora turned away to shield her eyes from the light until it finally began to dull.

"Sora," a soft, warm feminine voice said to her.

The girl finally opened her eyes to see that the black feathers had given way to pink ones with blue around the edges of its face and tail to compliment its blue eyes. The pink ended at its legs, which had a metal ring around the left one.

The bird smiled.

"Oh, Sora," it said, dashing towards the girl to wrap her in a hug. Sora had not prepared for the gesture of affection so she didn't react as the bird hugged her.

"You don't know how long I've waited for you," it continued happily, squeezing the girl's neck so hard that it hurt. "I'm so glad to finally meet you, Sora."

"That's…uh…nice," Sora replied awkwardly, finally gathering her words. "But can you please let go of me?"

The bird unwrapped its wings from around her to settle back on the log.

"I'm sorry for being overly affectionate, but I'm just so glad to see you."

"Someone glad to see me," she muttered with a roll of her eyes. "There's a first."

"Don't sell yourself so short, Sora," the bird replied. "I knew there was a reason you were chosen to be the Jedi of Love, and I was chosen to be your guardian."

Sora cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "My guardian?"

"Yes, my name is Biyomon, and I am known as the Digimon of Love. It is my sworn duty to protect and guide the Jedi who has been chosen to embody love, and that human is you, Sora."

Sora gazed at the symbol on her arm sadly, remembering the vision that the mist had just shown her. After witnessing that, she once again felt as though she wasn't capable of personifying love. If her mother thought she hated her, then Sora didn't see how she could ever earn any love from her mother back.

"I think you've made a mistake," she finally said after a few seconds. "I'm the worst person to choose to personify love. My own mother thinks I hate her, and my father is never around enough for me to know that he loves me."

"But your friends love you, Sora. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"Being accepted and loved by your friends and your family are completely different things," Sora replied, sitting down on the log beside Biyomon. The tears began to return to her face. "Especially when it comes to my family. My mother wants me to follow in her footsteps, but I just want to be me. I'm afraid that she won't accept me for who I am if I do though."

Biyomon placed a wing on Sora's shoulder to try and comfort her.

"That's all you can do, Sora," she said. "Just be your kind and gentle self and others will accept you for who you are. If they don't like it, then too bad. They just lost the chance to have a friend like you."

Tears began to leak down Sora's face at the Digimon's heartwarming words. Finally a happy smile stretched across her lips as she wiped them away before hugging the Digimon.

"Thanks, Biyo," she said.

"Anytime, Sora. That's why I'm here."

The pink bird then disappeared from within Sora's embrace, which surprised the girl for an instant. A reassuring warmth fell over her like water from a shower, feeling it to be Biyomon's presence even though she wasn't physically there in front of her.

Sora looked down at the heart-shaped symbol on her arm one last time before getting up from the log and continuing her walk down the path.

* * *

 **On to the second part. I'll have my ending author's note there.**


	15. The Final Test- Part 2

Izzy stepped lightly as it got darker along the path with each step that he took. If his intuition was correct, it only got darker as he moved closer to the center of the forest so as long as he followed the darkness, he would find the creature in no time flat.

' _Ok, so the creature I am trying to find is named Tentomon,'_ the young computer genius reminded himself. _'Shouldn't be too hard to remember. All I have to do is remain calm. Like Gennai said, the forest will do everything it can to impede me from finding Tentomon, so I need to keep a level head.'_

As he continued along, Izzy took notice of some of the flora in the forest, naming every tree and shrub that he came across. It helped take his mind off of the fact it was getting even darker. He wasn't afraid of the dark by any means, but getting so dark that he couldn't see anything in front of him was not something he enjoyed.

The bright green light of his saber emerged as he activated it, giving him plenty of light to see around him. With this extra security, Izzy continued along the path without a moment to lose. The sooner he could find Tentomon, the sooner he could get out of this forest. It was starting to creep him out.

"Izzy," a hushed voice, barely above a whisper, called out to him from within the darkness.

A shiver went down the boy's spine as the voice reached his ears. His eyes immediately darted from side to side, desperate to find the source of it. He saw nothing; only the pitch-black darkness and oak trees.

"Great, now you're hearing things, Izzy," the boy chastised himself, embarrassed that he had allowed himself to be scared.

The wind then howled eerily as the voice once again called out his name. His teeth began to chatter. His knees began to quiver. It took every ounce of energy Izzy had to not run for his life like a maniac, so he continued on slowly.

"Tentomon!" he called, hoping to alert the bug Digimon to his presence. "Tentomon, where are you?"

"Who are you?" the voice whispered on the wind.

"It's me, Izzy!"

"Who are you?" it repeated again as a mist began to gather around the area.

The voice continued to repeat the phrase as if in a hypnotic trance while Izzy backed up with his lightsaber held out in a Niman stance. Once his back came in contact with the bark, he jumped. He saw that it was only the tree, which earned a laugh from the boy.

"There I go scaring myself," he chuckled, wiping his brow. "Nothing to worry about."

The voice had stopped, but the mist had gathered so much that it blocked everything around Izzy. He couldn't see the foliage in front of him, nor any of the trees in the distance. All he could see was mist.

A familiar scene began to emerge from the mist as it parted until Izzy didn't even know it was there. He found himself to be staring at the small opening of his parents' bedroom door, the light barely creeping out into the dark apartment.

Izzy then moved forward to see what was going on due to the voices he heard, which clearly were his parents'.

"Honey, don't you think its time that we told Izzy the truth?" his mother asked.

"I'm not sure it's the best time now, dear," his father replied. "I'm afraid that it will be too much of a shock to him if we did."

"But I have this nagging suspicion that he already knows he was adopted; that he's not our child. He's smart and very perceptive, so I wouldn't put it past him."

"What makes you say that? Did he say something to you?"

"No. I guess it's just a mother's intuition."

"All he's ever known is living with us," Mr. Izumi continued. "We've raised him from the time he was three weeks old up until now; he doesn't know anything else. If we tell him now, it'll drive him away from us."

The emotions of that night came flooding back to Izzy as he watched the two of them go back and forth about whether or not to tell him. That was one of the worst nights' sleeps he ever had in his life. He stayed up dwelling over each and every word they had said, wondering if his parents saw him as inferior because he was adopted and not their own child.

Watching with a spellbound expression as they continued talking, Izzy didn't notice the tears beginning to spill down his face. Finally, with a sniffle, he turned away. He couldn't bear to listen anymore.

Sliding down the tree into a seating position, Izzy broke down and cried quietly. After a few seconds, he got ahold of himself and blew his nose on the backside of his yellow glove. He wiped away any remaining tears that collected on his face.

' _What do I do?'_ he asked himself as he continued to choke up. _'I don't even know who I am anymore. If I'm not my parents' real child, then who am I?'_

Once he calmed down, he began to feel as though he wasn't alone. A buzzing sound emerged from within the darkness. Turning his head left and right, he saw nothing. When he looked up, he screamed.

A shadow-like bug flew down from the top of the tree towards him, completely outlined in black. Izzy slashed the air with his lightsaber, barely missing the bug by an inch, to try and keep it away from him. The bug then settled onto the ground in front of him, looking on with curious black eyes.

Izzy stared right back as he kept his lightsaber stretched out in a warning stance in case it decided to attack. Getting his breath back, he had a feeling that this was the creature he was looking for.

"T-Tentomon?" he said timidly.

The bug gave an interested buzzing noise, as if confirming that was its name, before reaching out to Izzy with an appendage. A glow of purple pierced the darkness as it got closer and closer to Izzy. Looking down, he could see that it was his symbol that was glowing. Without hesitation, he reached his right hand out to the appendage that was inching towards him.

Once they made contact, Izzy's symbol exploded with light, blinding him for a short moment, before it dulled to reveal the creature to him.

Izzy found himself looking at a bipedal ladybug-like insect with big green eyes, the same color as his lightsaber blade, and two long, orange antennae emerging from its head. Its shell was a maroon color, while the underside of its body was a sand color.

"Pro…digious!" he exclaimed breathlessly, his eyes widening in amazement at what he saw before him.

"What? Is there something stuck in my teeth?" the bug replied in a high-pitched, nasally voice. Even though it had spoken, its mouth did not move. "This was not how I wanted to make a good first impression."

"Are you…Tentomon?" the boy asked once again.

"Yep, my name is Tentomon, the one and only. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Izzy. It's been a while since we've last spoken."

Izzy's eyes widened in realization, remembering the voice in the factory.

"In the factory…that was you!"

"That's correct. It's my job as your Digimon guardian to help you in times of trouble, Izzy, and that was a moment where I felt as though you needed my help."

"Then why didn't you just reveal yourself to me?" Izzy asked.

"Gennai ordered us to not reveal our identities to you until you were ready for your last test," Tentomon replied. "You humans are such an interesting species, though you are the _only_ human I have ever met. What was all the screaming about earlier? It disturbed my nap."

Izzy sighed, the vision that he saw beginning to replay in his mind.

"Nothing important," he said. "Just the fact that you surprised me."

Tentomon was not buying it.

"Your thoughts betray you, Izzy. I sense the conflict within you over who you are and what your purpose is. Take me for example: I've lived my whole life knowing that my purpose was to guide and protect the Jedi of Knowledge, so therefore I am what I am. I can't change that."

"But how do I do that if I'm not even sure _who_ I am?" the boy retorted. "What if my parents just adopted me out of pity, like they never really loved me in the first place? I'm afraid to find out the answer."

Tentomon shook his head sadly. "I can't answer that, Izzy," he said. "But what I can tell you is this: don't let the fear of the unknown stop you from the pursuit of knowledge. Or was it 'Don't tickle a sleeping dragon'? I can't get those things right."

Izzy chortled at the bug's humor.

"Thanks, pal," he smiled.

"Anytime, Izzy."

Tentomon faded before disappearing entirely, like a ghost. Izzy looked at the spot where the bug had just been standing, his words reverberating in his mind. With this newfound confidence, Izzy bounded down the path that he knew would take him out of the forest, having finally accomplished his task.

* * *

Mimi had never been so scared in her life. As if being forced to walk into a dark, scary forest wasn't bad enough, she was so uptight that the sight of anything was enough to scare her out of her wits, forcing her to run a lot and she didn't know where to go.

"P-Palmon?" she called, seeing if she could lure the creature she was looking for out into the open with the sound of her voice. "Palmon? Come out, come out, wherever you are."

A group of bats flew out of a bush from the loud sound, screeching so loudly that they drowned out Mimi's cries. Without even thinking, she took off running with a loud scream as if her life depended on it. With her eyes shut tight, she ran aimlessly, not paying any attention to where she was going.

Suddenly, her foot got snagged on a root and she fell flat on her face. This only made her cry even louder as the forest air filled with her loud sobs. If there were any forest animals in the area, they would have scurried away from the sound.

Mimi pounded the ground in emotional agony, her fear completely out of control at this juncture. No one was there to console her, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway; she was at the end of her rope and she was going to cry as much as she wanted.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!" she screamed to the heavens, hoping one of her friends would come and find her. Fearful tears began to stream down her face as the helplessness finally started to settle in.

Whispers then circulated through the trees as the wind blew gently down the path. It sounded like a herd of ghosts were coming around.

"Now what's going on?" Mimi sobbed, wishing someone would just come by and put her out of her misery before these "ghosts" got her.

Above her, the voices began to ring loudly in her ears.

"Can you believe her?"

"She's such a ditz!"

"So glad that I'm not friends with her."

"I don't know how anyone can stand her."

"Mimi's so weird."

The hurtful words rang in Mimi's ears as her tears fell even faster, for she knew them too well. For someone who prided herself on being the center of attention and the "life of the party", Mimi also carried the fact she could be full of herself sometimes.

Words like ' _narcissist'_ , ' _ditz'_ , and ' _selfish'_ continued to whisper in her ears, growing increasingly louder with each moment that went by. Mimi covered her ears, trying to block out the words, but it was useless as they continued to shout in her ears as though they were perched on her shoulders.

Finally, Mimi couldn't take it anymore and screamed, "STOP!"

The sound echoed through the entire forest as the voices came to a halt, but the damage had already been done. Mimi pulled herself up from her belly into a seating position, and folded her legs into her chest as she continued to cry.

While she cried, something began to make its way towards her silently through the underbrush. The branches rustled as they parted to reveal a black plant-like creature, its eyes set directly on Mimi.

The girl was so busy crying that she didn't notice the creature stalk over to her. Once her tears finally ran out, she wiped her eyes, red and puffy from all the crying she did, with the back of her hand before looking up. That was when she saw the creature. It was right in front of her, inspecting her curiously but nothing else.

Mimi tried to scream, but her voice was so hoarse from all the crying and prior screaming she had been doing that a strangled noise came out instead. Rather, she chose to back away quickly, thinking the creature had come to finish her off.

"S-stay back!" she cried hoarsely, activating her purple lightsaber and pointing it directly at the creature's chest.

It kept its distance, feeling the heat of the laser sword pointed against it, but the creature knew that Mimi was simply reacting out of fear. As long as it showed her that it meant no harm, then the girl would inevitably calm down.

Sure enough, Mimi settled down once she saw that it stopped moving towards her. She deactivated her lightsaber before putting it back on her waist, drawing her attention to the plant-like creature in front of her.

"H-h-hi," she hesitantly waved.

It responded in a warped coo, sounding like a greeting.

"I'm Mimi. What's your name?"

The creature didn't answer, rather it just lifted an arm and reached out to Mimi. Feeling a connection, Mimi returned the gesture. Her symbol began to glow as her fingers were just mere millimeters away from the long fingers on the creature's hand.

Her symbol exploded with light once their fingers made contact, revealing the Digimon to be grass green with a pink flower growing out of its head. Its legs reminded Mimi of roots, and it stared at her with big green eyes.

"Mimi!" it cried joyously in a child-like voice, wrapping its arms around her in a bone-crushing hug. "Thank you!"

Mimi tensed as the Digimon buried its face into her stomach, squeezing her even tighter. It was beginning to make her uncomfortable.

"For what?" she asked.

"For ridding me of my dark thoughts," the plant replied happily. "It was getting depressing being all black. Yeugh!" it cringed in disgust. "Anyway, it's so nice to finally meet you, Mimi. I'm Palmon, your Digimon guardian."

"My what?"

"Your Digimon guardian. Whenever you're in trouble, I'll be there faster than you can say 'mushroom soup' and help you."

"This whole thing makes my head spinny," Mimi said. "I didn't even want to go to summer camp in the first place."

"Sometimes fate just has other plans," Palmon replied lightly. "Regardless, you're here for a reason, Mimi. There are no mistakes."

"Well in my case, there was!" the girl shouted, her bottled-up feelings finally rising to the surface. "I'm just a normal girl with a regular life, a regular family, and nothing extraordinary. That's all I want to be! I want malls! Spas! Room service!"

Palmon couldn't help but interrupt her nervous breakdown. "Don't you think you put too much emphasis on material things?" she asked.

Mimi cocked an eyebrow. What kind of a question was that? Of course it was important to worry about stuff like that.

"Huh?"

"Are you sure that it's not just a front to hide the fact you're afraid to be yourself?" Palmon asked again.

"To be honest, I've never thought about it before," Mimi replied, caught off guard by the question.

"You don't have to be, Mimi. You're perfect just being who you are. That's why you're the Jedi of Sincerity."

"But I don't want to be some Jedi! I don't like fighting, but I'm expected to carry this laser thing that I don't know how to use! WHY ME?!" she shrieked.

Palmon stood silently for several moments, appearing as if in deep thought, before finally answering Mimi's plea.

"I'm not sure," she said. "I'm just a simple servant, so I can't answer that. That doesn't matter to me, Mimi. All I care about is the fact that I have a friend now, and I don't want any other friend than you."

Tears returned to Mimi's eyes, but this time they were of happiness. Overcome, she wrapped the Digimon in a hug this time, her symbol glowing a bright green that it almost lit the entire area by itself.

"Thanks, Palmon," she sniffled, a wide smile broadening on her face.

"Of course," Palmon returned the smile. "I have to go now, Mimi. May the Force be with you."

She then disappeared, leaving Mimi alone once again in the dark forest. But this time, she wasn't frightened out of her mind. Rather, she felt a reassuring warmth flow through her, which she knew was both the Force and Palmon's energy circulating through her.

* * *

"Damn it, why did this have to happen to me?" Joe grumbled angrily to himself as he stomped through the forest path, frustration oozing every step. "I'm walking through a dark, scary forest with absolutely no clue as to where I am going or what this creature I'm supposed to be looking for looks like."

The hooting of an owl froze him, halting his building rage for a moment. The sound echoed through the trees for about three seconds, which felt like an eternity to Joe. He needed to find a way out of here.

A gurgling sound reached his ears. Relief washed over Joe when he recognized it as the churning of water, which meant that he had to be near a river that could lead him out of the forest.

' _I'm saved!'_ he exclaimed happily to himself.

The screech of an eagle above scared him out of his wits. Joe was so frightened by the loudness of it that he tripped over his own feet and fell. Rather than simply falling to the ground, Joe found himself tumbling painfully end over end as he fell down a hill.

He cried out in pain as he made contact with the rough ground beneath him, seeming like it was never going to end. He finally landed at the bottom of the hill face-first in a puddle of mud, releasing a squelching sound into the air.

A painful groan escaped Joe's throat as he pushed himself up from the mud puddle. The front of his vest was completely covered in mud, along with his glasses and the front of his pants. Some even stuck to his hair as his face was completely pancaked in it.

"AND I DON'T EVEN LIKE STAR WARS!" he shouted, echoing through the entire forest, before wincing in pain. "Ow."

His entire body felt as though it had been run over by a truck. Joe felt two lumps on his head, along with several scratches and bruises on his arms, legs, torso, and his back for sure was messed up. Nothing was broken, but he was so sore that he could barely move.

"Hope I never do that again," he muttered as he wiped mud off of his glasses.

Joe then saw the small rippling of waves as the water flowed upstream. He was now at the river. Crawling slowly, he reached the riverbank to wash his face clean of mud before dunking his entire head underneath to clean his hair. Sadly, there wasn't much he could do in the way of cleaning his clothes.

' _My parents are going to be so mad that I got myself dirty,'_ he worried, wondering what they would have to say if they knew about his adventures.

"JOSEPH ALAN KIDO!"

Joe cringed, recognizing the voice as his father's. _'Speak of the devil.'_

He turned to see both his mother and father looking at him with less-than-pleased expressions on their faces. Dr. Kido was a big, burly man in his mid-forties with a pair of black-rimmed glasses over his blue eyes and jet-black hair. His face was carved into a discriminant glare, like he was scrutinizing every little thing that you would do. He loved his family, but that didn't mean he wouldn't exercise his authority as head of the house to have final say over what his sons would do with their lives.

Mrs. Kido was a lovely woman in her late thirties-early forties with long navy blue hair and big black eyes that counterbalanced her husband's serious demeanor with one of pure kindness. Joe definitely got more from her in the way of looks, but he was more like his father.

"Mom, Dad," he collected himself to greet them. "How did you guys get here?"

His father held up a slip of paper. B's and C's adorned the paper in a straight line down.

"What is this?" he demanded.

Joe's face paled. "I-I don't know. I've never seen that before. What is it?"

"Do you honestly think grades like these are going to fly for Tokyo University?" his father continued. "Why can't you be more like your older brothers, Joseph? They were top of their class, and yet you have grades like these. It's absolutely deplorable!"

Joe stammered, trying to find a good thing to say, but was coming up empty.

"I-I-I-I-I'm sorry, Dad," he stuttered. "I'll do better next time. I promise."

Dr. Kido shook his head. "It's too late, Joseph. You are an embarrassment to the Kido family."

"Your father's right, honey," his mother nodded. "This isn't going to get the job done."

Tears began to streak down Joe's face as his father's words echoed in his brain. This was the one thing he feared the most: not measuring up to his father's expectations. All his life, he had been pushed to do exactly what his father wanted him to do, leaving him helpless to speak up for himself.

"Failure! Loser! Incompetent!" snide voices screamed loudly in his ears.

"Stop!" he pleaded as they chanted louder, collapsing to his knees with his hands over his ears to block out them out. "Stop it!"

"You are no son of mine!" his father's voice joined in.

"An embarrassment!" said his mother.

"Stop!"

Finally, Joe could not take anymore and unleashed a roar from the depths of his soul that could scare the stripes off of a tiger.

"STOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!"

Powerful energy erupted from his hands, unlike anything he had produced so far. Everything blew back several feet, as if being blown by the winds of a strong typhoon, even the visions of Joe's parents flew out of sight as he released all of his pent-up frustrations.

Finally, the energy ran out and Joe collapsed to his knees, planting his hand in the soft dirt to try and keep him balanced upright as he recovered his strength. Tears continued to streak down his face as he reflected on their words.

"Maybe I am worthless, and a loser," he whimpered as small, wet drops dotted the ground beneath him.

"Hey Joe," a snide voice called.

Joe hardly heard the voice as he wiped the tears from his face. The voice once again repeated its call, and this time he heard clearly.

"Who's there?" he cried, wondering if it's yet another trick by the forest to demoralize him. As if it hadn't done so already.

"Find me, Joe."

Joe jumped, startled by the voice, and immediately ignited his lightsaber so that he could defend himself.

"Who are you?"

"You'll find out in a few moments," the voice replied impatiently. "Now find me already! I've been waiting for you long enough."

"Ok, then _where_ are you?" Joe asked again.

"Follow the sound of my voice."

Joe found it useless to argue, so he carefully walked along the riverbank. His shoes squished as they stepped into the mud that lined the edge of the river. Wherever this voice was coming from, Joe didn't feel like it was going to end well.

"That's it. Keep it comin'," the voice said as it guided him.

Joe kept walking, craning his head from left to right as he searched for the source of the voice. The endless row of trees finally gave way to a fork, where the river flowed into three different directions. Joe stared deeply, wondering which way he should go.

A twig snapped in the foliage close to him. Joe was so startled by the noise that he almost peed his shorts again. He was at the end of his rope.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" he yelled, his words echoing.

"Behind you."

Sweat ran down Joe's forehead as he slowly turned to look behind him. He nearly screamed. Something that looked like a three-dimensional shadow of a seal cub with a mohawk on its head, certainly something he had never seen before, was right behind him.

Joe bit his lip to suppress the scream he knew was about to come out, so hard that it drew blood. The iron taste flooded his mouth as he tried to keep his fear in check. This had to be the creature that he was looking for.

The seal cocked its head curiously, wondering who this strange human was. Joe finally calmed down enough to where he could think clearly, and his instinct told him that it posed no harm. With this in mind, he reached out to give it a scratch behind the ears, figuring a little affection would get it to warm up to him.

Once his hand made contact with the creature's mohawk, the symbol on his arm glowed a bright white. He shut his eyes and looked away so that the light didn't permanently damage his vision, which was impaired enough.

"I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want."

Joe snapped his eyes open and turned back to look at the creature since he heard the voice coming from there. They widened as his hand hovered over the now-colorful creature. It was white all over with some purple markings on its flippers, face, flanks, and ears; its mohawk was a bright orange, and it stared at Joe with green eyes. A mischievous smile was etched on its face.

"Well," it spoke, causing Joe's eyes to widen even more. "Aren't you going to move your hand away?"

"Uh…yeah," Joe nodded hesitantly before moving his hand. The fact the creature was actually talking to him freaked him out; animals weren't supposed to talk in real life.

"Oh my God, the thing's talking," he whispered.

The creature must have heard him because it huffed indignantly. "First of all, I'm not a thing," it replied crossly. "The name is Gomamon, and it's about time you finally found me, Joe. I've been waiting for you."

Joe had many questions that he wanted answered, like how this creature could talk, how it knew he was coming; and why he was chosen to be a Destined Jedi. He started with an obvious one.

"Waiting for me?" he finally said. "Why?"

"Why? Because I'm your Digimon guardian, which makes it my job to make sure you don't get bloodied up too badly."

"My guardian?"

Gomamon groaned with a roll of his eyes. This human asked too many questions. A Numemon could understand something faster than Joe could.

"Geez, do you have rocks in your head or something?" he bit. "Yes, your guardian. Whenever you're in trouble, I'm there, Pal Joey."

Joe's nostrils flared at the nickname. "Don't ever call me that!" he roared.

"A little touchy, I see," Gomamon noted to himself. "What was Gennai thinking assigning me to this guy?"

"What was that?" Joe asked.

"Nothing," the Digimon replied with a cheeky smile. "I'm just glad that you're finally here, Joe. Now I've fulfilled my lifelong mission: to be your guardian."

"Well at least someone has fulfilled their dream," Joe sarcastically remarked as he sat down beside a fork in the river. "Better than what I have to do."

"What do you mean, pal?"

Gomamon leapt into his lap, which surprised Joe at how quickly he had done it, and turned the cuteness up to eleven by flashing his big green eyes at the boy.

"My biggest fear is that I won't be good enough for my family," Joe sighed. "My dad wants me to be a doctor just like him, and my older brothers are both pre-med students. The problem is that if I don't live up to that dream, I'm afraid he and my mom won't love me anymore."

Gomamon couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The poor kid was obviously burdened by all the expectations of those around him that he didn't feel free to be himself. It was really sad for the Digimon to see.

"Ah, don't worry about that stuff, Joe," he said, trying to put the boy at ease. "You can only live your life. Don't worry about what others think."

"Easy for you to say," Joe retorted. "You're not the one living my life."

"True, but that doesn't mean I don't know a thing or two about living. If your parents didn't have high expectations for you, then that would mean they didn't want you to succeed. That's all they want: you to succeed. And if it's not being a doctor, then so what. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters."

The Digimon's impassioned speech finally brought a smile to Joe's face.

"You know what, Gomamon," he said. "You're absolutely right. Thank you."

"That's why I'm here," Gomamon smiled. "Never forget that, Joe…Jedi of Reliability."

He then vanished before Joe's eyes, freaking the boy out even more due to how sudden it was. As he looked at the symbol on his arm, Gomamon's words repeating in his mind, a wave of confidence came over him. Standing back up on his feet, he wiped off any mud or dirt he could.

"All I can do is just be me," he said to himself. "Just Joe Kido, no one else."

* * *

For someone so young, TK was proud to say that he was doing just fine on his own. Sure, the forest seemed creepy and dark, and he was all by himself without his brother there to protect him, but he wasn't going to cry his eyes out like a little baby. He was a big boy now, and big boys don't cry when they're on their own.

At least, that's what he told himself. Truth be told, as he surveyed the scene around him, TK never felt more helpless in his entire life. He was on his own, with no one to help him, and he didn't know what lay beyond the mist that was slowly closing in around him.

"Matt?" he called, hearing only an owl hooting in response.

As the young boy stepped lightly down the path, he saw the foliage continue to get bigger and bigger until it was more like a jungle than a run of the mill forest. The shrubs also grew bigger than him, which unnerved him greatly. He pushed the branches aside as he silently peeked around the corner.

Nothing was there.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"I was getting worked up over nothing," he sighed, a relieved smile crossing his young face.

Suddenly, a lightsaber ignition pierced the air around him, which brought a spark of hope to the boy. Maybe it was one of the others coming to find him.

"Matt?" he called out, hoping that it was his brother. "Is that you?"

The air filled with a sinister laugh that registered in the deep recesses of TK's mind. His body froze as a sense of dread overcame him. It was a laugh he never hoped to hear again.

' _Devimon.'_

He backed away slowly, not wanting to alert the evil Digimon to his presence. He thought if he could sneak away unnoticed, then he would be safe. He'd find that creature he needed to find, and then he would escape the forest.

Before he could even attempt to get away, TK tripped over a root and fell stomach-first to the ground with a surprised yelp. Picking himself up, a pair of large feet, easily size sixteen, stood right in front of him. His eyes slowly looked up as a chill went down the young boy's spine until they finally confirmed what he feared: he was looking at Devimon.

Just like the last time they saw him, he had that evil sneer that continued to give TK nightmares. His red lightsaber hummed by his side as he looked at the boy, knowing that he could easily end his young life at any moment.

TK's hand touched the lightsaber at his side, immediately taking it into his hands. Putting on a brave face, he activated it to show he was not afraid of the Digimon, even though he was absolutely terrified.

' _How did he find us so quickly?'_ he mentally shouted.

Devimon did not speak. He only stared as TK activated his blue lightsaber. Then, almost at the drop of a hat, he launched the first attack.

Having been prepared for the inevitable, TK blocked the angled attack with the defense Gennai had taught him before delivering a strike of his own towards the leg. Devimon too blocked his attack as the two danced in a deadly display of saber fighting.

Finally, TK stunned Devimon with a well-timed parry. Taking advantage of the stun, the boy cut off Devimon's saber arm with a swift strike from the side and then pushing him away with the Force. The symbol on his arm glowed a bright yellow light as he watched Devimon disappear deep into the forest.

TK stood in disbelief. He had done it! He defeated Devimon! Just wait until the others heard about this!

Before he could celebrate his victory, however, the fluttering of wings began to fill the area. For a second, TK worried that Devimon had come back for a second crack at him, but the noise settled behind him.

TK turned, only to come face-to-face with a figure that looked like a guinea pig with wings for ears. It was completely black, its pupils dark grey. For a second, he didn't know what to do. He and the creature looked at each other curiously, wondering exactly what he was supposed to do.

Getting an idea, he tilted his head to one side; the creature copying the movement.

TK then tilted his head to the other side.

Same thing.

He then decided to get sillier, stretching his mouth as wide as he could while making blabbing sounds with his tongue. The creature copied it movement for movement, which caused the boy to giggle. It seemed nice, which was good enough for him. Their game of funny faces continued until TK was almost in stitches from all the faces that it would make.

"Hi there," he finally said something. "My name's TK. What's yours?"

The guinea pig didn't say a thing, only moving closer as its nose sniffed with interest. TK looked down to see the symbol on his arm start to glow for some reason. As the Digimon moved closer, the symbol, in the shape of a shooting star, grew brighter.

"What are you?" he asked, his hand slowly reaching out to touch it.

Once his hand finally made contact with its head, the light from his symbol became almost blinding as the dark creature slowly gave way to a burnt orange-ish color on its topside and tan on its underside. It stared at him with big blue eyes that shined with innocence.

Giggling loudly, TK brought the Digimon into an embrace. He didn't even need to know what its name was, he could already tell that the two of them would be good friends.

"I've waited a long time to finally meet you, TK," it said in a childish voice. "And now you're here."

"You know who I am, but I don't know who you are," TK replied, hoping to attach a name to the creature in front of him.

"I'm Patamon," the now named Patamon smiled at him.

"Do you want to be friends, Patamon?" the boy asked, giving him a hopeful look.

The Digimon smiled with a nod. "Ok."

TK only squeezed Patamon tighter as his heart fluttered with happiness. For a short period, he just held the Digimon in his arms, afraid that he would disappear if he let go. For the first time in a while, he had a friend that wasn't his brother or any of the other kids.

"Now, Patamon, since you're the Digimon I was looking for, does that make you Yoda?"

"Who's Yoda?"

TK was shocked. Didn't everyone know who Yoda was?

"He's this little old green guy who trains Jedi," he explained. "You sure you haven't heard of him?"

Patamon shook his head.

"I don't have much time, TK, so allow me to explain this to you."

"Explain what?" TK asked.

"You may have defeated Devimon here, but he was only an illusion," Patamon explained. "You and your friends still have to defeat the real one. Once he is defeated, then File Island will finally be rid of his evil. Even so, there are still many dark forces that need to be destroyed in order for the Digital World to be free of all evil."

That explanation seemed to take the wind out of TK's sails because he was starting to feel good about himself.

"And you, Jedi of Hope, will have a hand in bringing its destruction," Patamon continued. "Remember that even the smallest person can change the course of events, TK. No matter how much you're afraid, or how much things seem bleak, always have hope that things will turn out all right."

TK nodded in understanding. "Ok, I promise."

"Great, I must go now."

"Aw!" the boy whined. "Why do you have to go?"

"Because I fulfilled my mission to find you and meet you," said Patamon. "But don't worry, TK. I'll always be with you and will be there whenever you need me. See you soon."

Patamon then disappeared, leaving TK stuck in the middle of the clearing by himself. Taking a deep breath, TK got off the ground and looked around, using the Force to determine where to go next. Patamon's words continued to ring in his ear as he walked a little taller than normal.

* * *

 **And after all of that, the forest is finished! I am exhausted! I might need a couple days to get myself back together XD Knowing me, probably not. Anyway, the kids finally find their Digimon partners and confront some of their inner demons. What awaits our young heroes next? Find out on the next installment of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Like I said in part one, if I posted this as one chapter, it would have been almost 13,000 words long, so it made perfect sense to divide it up into two chapters to post back to back. Hope you all enjoyed it, because now things get real. Their training is now over.**

 **Please leave a review and subscribe to let me know how the story is going. They are always much appreciated so do not hesitate. I won't bite, I promise you XD See you guys next week.**


	16. Duel of the Fates

**I think introductions are useless at this point. You guys know what's coming next in this chapter: the kids go back to File Island and look to destroy Devimon for good, so let's get straight to the action...after a word from some of my loyal reviewers of course.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: For Sora, yes, but with the others, you wouldn't have known before. Yes, Joe does have it quite rough. That's what you get when you're born into a family of doctors, I guess. We'll see what he decides later on but until then, keep reading ;-) That gives me some ideas for the sequel to this story in terms of how to handle TK's character.**

 **Music Chick: I totally get why you liked Matt the most XD I'm glad that I was able to capture everyone perfectly. Just goes to show that you get to know their personalities and what they think after a while.**

 **Won't leave you guys waiting any longer. Let's get into the action.**

* * *

"YOU INCOMPETENT FOOL!"

Ogremon flew across the room before colliding against a marble column, almost causing it to collapse. He looked at an enraged Devimon in a daze, the whole room spinning before his eyes.

"Does your incompetence know now bounds?!" Devimon hissed, glaring at the small green Digimon. "I ask you to destroy the Destined Jedi, and what do you do, you allow the Jedi of Love to finally unlock her abilities!"

"I-I'm sorry, Master," Ogremon apologized. "Those kids were a lot stronger than I thought. I promise that I won't let you down again."

"It's too late for that," Devimon growled, grabbing the ogre by the throat with his long arm. Choking sounds filled the air as Ogremon struggled for breath while in the dark Digimon's grip.

"Please-" he choked.

"Soon, the Destined Jedi will come back to File Island to defeat me. When that happens, I will be no match for them. All because of your failure to destroy them!"

His grip tightened even more. The ogre in his grip was now struggling for air, knowing that he wouldn't last much longer if it continued this way.

"I'm…sorry…my…lord," he choked out. "Please…give…me…one…more…chance."

"You had your chance!" Devimon retorted, as his lips curled into a smirk. An idea just came to him. "But I think I know another way you can be of service to me."

"How?"

"If we were to fight together, we could have an advantage."

"We, my lord?" Ogremon squeaked as his face began to turn a dark shade of blue.

"Yes," Devimon smiled wickedly. "I need you to lend me something, Ogremon. Your energy."

Ogremon cried out in pain as Devimon squeezed him tighter, cackling loudly as the ogre was reduced to eight black gears that he quickly usurped. Devimon grew larger, almost to the size of a three-story mansion, as his laugh grew louder.

"Hear this, Destined Jedi! Soon you will learn the true power of the dark side! And when I destroy you like I should have done the first time, nothing will stand between my master and I from conquering the entire Digital World!"

* * *

Gennai checked his imaginary watch as he stood at the edge of the forest, waiting for the children to begin showing up. If all went according to plan, they should be arriving momentarily. For a moment, he was worried that they wouldn't be strong enough to handle what he knew waited for them in the forest, but his instincts told him that they had passed the test.

"They should be arriving right…about…now!" he muttered to himself.

"Gennai!" Tai's voice came, followed by the goggle-headed boy dashing from the tree line.

The old man smiled. "Well, welcome back to the realm of the living, Tai," he said. "You are the first one to emerge from the Forest of Evil."

Tai gave a small smile, still reeling from what he had just experienced.

Not long after him did the other Destined Jedi emerge from the forest one by one. Joe's entire body was covered in hardened mud with plenty still stuck to his legs, shorts, and vest. There was even still some on his arms, but he was unhurt overall.

"Congratulations to you all," said Gennai once everyone had a chance to get reacquainted. "You have all passed your final test. To be a true Jedi, you must be of sound mind, body, and spirit, which this task tested you in. There are things that you have yet to see that will test you even more, and I will not always be there to help you through them, but you have shown your mental fortitude today. I am confident you will be fine."

"Ok, so what do we do next?" Tai asked. He felt as though he knew the answer, but wanted to be sure.

"You must go back to File Island and face Devimon once again."

Mimi gasped while everyone else stayed silent. They knew that it was inevitable, but that didn't mean they were ready for it.

"Why do we have to face him again?" Joe whined, looking down at the scar across his calf. "Don't you remember how he kicked our butts last time?"

"Yes, but you are all much stronger than the last time you faced him," Gennai replied. "You must go back and defeat him to rid File Island of his evil. Only then will the prophecy be fulfilled."

Izzy then spoke up. "So if what I'm understanding is correct, once we save the island from Devimon, there would be no reason for us to remain here in the Digital World."

Everyone smiled joyously at that news. The prospect of going home after almost a month-long stay in the Digital World warmed their hearts and gave them new hope. Soon they would be back with their families, and this little adventure would be over.

"I hate to throw cold water on this theory," Gennai sadly interrupted. "But I'm not sure that Devimon is the evil of all evils. He could be just one cog in the machine. That means there could be more evil Digimon that are stronger than him that must be defeated."

"Aw!" the kids all groaned in disappointment.

"Thanks for getting our hopes up, Izzy!" Mimi snapped at the boy. "Now we're going to be stuck here even longer!"

"Don't despair, Mimi," said Sora. "We'll find a way."

"So with that in mind, an old friend should be here momentarily to take you all back to File Island," said Gennai, again looking at his imaginary watch.

The sound of giant footsteps against the ground caught the children's ears. Looking to their left, they smiled once they saw a familiar face.

"It's Leomon!" Tai cried.

The lion smiled in greeting as he made his way to stand beside Gennai.

"Hello, Destined Jedi," he said. "It's been a while. I hope you all are ready for your clash with Devimon because our survival depends on you."

"As if we didn't need more pressure than necessary," Joe groaned, feeling like he was being trolled with all the reminders of their impending duel with Devimon.

"Joe, shut up," Matt snapped before turning to Tai. "This time, we will take on Devimon together, Tai."

"I was about to say that, Matt," Tai chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck while everyone else laughed.

"Good luck, and may the Force be with you," Gennai said with a bow, which the children copied.

"Well, no time to waste," said Leomon as they followed him away from the forest and towards their destiny.

* * *

A few short hours later, the group sailed on a small boat that Leomon had used to transport himself over to Server. Except for Joe, who still had not gotten over his seasickness, everyone calmly meditated to prepare themselves for the impending battle that they knew was coming.

The bespectacled boy retched loudly over the side of the boat, spilling out the contents of his stomach directly into the sea as the queasy feeling he felt the whole boat trip tightened its grip on his nervous system. Matt patted him on the back to try and calm him, but it was clearly in vain.

"What's happened since we've been away, Leomon?" Sora asked, hoping to get an idea of what they were walking into.

"Nothing," the lion replied. "All's been quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me. I believe that Devimon has been biding his time, waiting for you lot to come back to File Island and face him. Once that happens, our fate is at stake."

Joe then threw up again. Everyone grimaced with disgust as he expelled the rest of his stomach matter before hocking up mucus to spit out. He turned to face everyone, his face a sick shade of green and groans escaping his lips.

"Ok, I think you've thrown up all you can throw up now, Joe," said Matt, placing a hand on the older boy's forehead and rubbing it softly. "You'll be okay."

"Thanks, Matt," he said softly.

"All right, this creep Devimon better watch out!" Tai cried, standing at the edge of the mast. "Because the Destined Jedi are on their way to destroy you!"

"Calm down, Mr. King of the World," Sora snickered, noticing the way he stood on the mast.

Everyone else laughed as well while the brown-haired boy glared at his best friend. She gave him a teasing smirk in retaliation, which only served to make him more angry.

Four hours later, the sun began to set. The sky turned a dark pink, which the kids found both odd, and fascinating at the same time. It wasn't much longer before the familiar shape of Infinity Mountain appeared on the horizon, and with it the deep chill that sent a shiver down the children's spines due to sensing Devimon's presence.

"Well, here we go, gang," said Leomon, paddling faster so that they could reach File Island by nightfall.

"May the Force be with us," muttered Tai as he watched the island get closer and closer.

* * *

Night fell by the time the little boat reached the shore of the island. If they weren't so worried about the task at hand, then the kids would have stopped to admire the stars and how they twinkled in the sky. None of that mattered at the moment because they had a job to do, no matter how daunting it seemed.

Tai could feel the nervous energy radiating off of his friends. If they failed, not only would they be finished, but the Digital World as well. They couldn't let that happen. Many were counting on them to come through.

As they climbed up the mountain path just above the forest, Leomon gave them information that he knew would be useful when battling Devimon.

"Now, Devimon is a lot more powerful than you kids think," he said. "He has all sorts of dark powers at his disposal that he can use to destroy you. He will stop at nothing until you are all destroyed, so don't think he'll be an easy opponent."

"Don't worry," Matt replied, glancing at the scar across his shoulder from their last duel with Devimon. "We learned that the hard way last time."

"That creep isn't going to know what hit him now that we're fully trained," Tai said confidently, closing his hand into a fist of determination.

"Your overconfidence will be your downfall, Tai," Leomon frowned, bringing the boy back down to earth. "Learn to control it. Let's keep moving."

The sound of thunder cracked through the air loudly like an echoing drum. Everyone looked up at the sky, but saw no trace of storm clouds in the area. The sound came again, this time the group traced it to the top of Infinity Mountain. From the top of the Parthenon replica, a giant head began to emerge.

Mimi screamed at the sight of it, while everyone else stood frozen in shock. Devimon emerged from the temple, but this time he was the size of a mountain. Once he saw the group of children, he smirked before launching himself from the temple to the bottom of the mountain.

"I knew you would come back," he sneered as his feet made contact with the ground, sending a rumble through the entire island. He then activated his new lightsaber, the bright red blade piercing the night sky with a hiss. "And this time, I am going to do what I should have done the first time: kill the lot of you and end the prophecy."

Leomon and the children wasted no time activating their lightsabers. Devimon merely sneered at them.

"Just because you're fully trained now, that does not mean you will defeat me. I am Devimon, supreme leader of File Island, and no snotty group of kids is going to ruin my plans."

"We'll just have to see about that!" Tai retorted, his body shaking in anticipation of some action. Though his words sounded tough, he was frightened. He tried to keep his fear in control just like Gennai had taught him.

For several tense-filled moments, the group of children stared eye-to-eye with the gigantic Digimon, waiting for the first move to be initiated. The wind blew across the path ominously, as if knowing the implications of the duel upon the slopes of Infinity Mountain were a matter of life and death.

Tai and Matt were the first to leap forward, catching Devimon off guard with swift attacks that took him to the limit of his reflexes to block the attacks. The two of them weaved and dived as they struck hard.

Devimon was kept on the defensive as he blocked attack after attack. These children had gotten stronger indeed; he could feel it radiating off of them like a foul odor. He parried a flying strike from Tai, which sent the boy back to the ground, but Matt continued pressing in his stead, not allowing Devimon a moment to rest.

' _They've learned the power of working together,'_ he thought, gritting his teeth. _'I did not sense this last time.'_

Seeing that they had him off balance, Matt bent down to all fours. Knowing what he had in mind, Tai got a running start before propelling himself off of Matt's back and into the air. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he moved his feet forward and dive kicked Devimon in the chest, sending the Digimon stumbling backwards until he fell on his back. The ground shook as he made contact with it.

Everyone cheered as Tai and Matt high-fived each other, thinking that they had gotten Devimon.

"Nice one there," Tai smiled, which Matt returned.

"Thanks. That was good thinking on your part too."

A long shadow then cast itself over them, spoiling their momentary celebration. They looked up to see the cackling face of Devimon.

"That attack was clever," he said mockingly. "But it barely even tickled me. Hopefully you're tickled by this."

From his fingertips, long spouts of Force lightning emerged, heading towards the two boys. They immediately raised their lightsabers defensively, holding off the Force lightning for as long as they could. Little jolts of lightning would deflect off their sabers and catch them on their arms.

"I can't hold on any longer!" Tai cried, feeling the force of the lightning grow even more powerful against his saber.

"Tai, stay strong!" Matt cried, straining against the power of it as well.

Behind the action, Joe immediately sprang into action to help protect his friends. The memory of not being able to help Sora against Ogremon just yesterday reigned heavily on his mind, so he was going to do something this time.

"Izzy, come on!" he urged as the two ran towards their friends.

Matt and Tai flew past the two of them as Force lightning engulfed them after they couldn't force it back anymore. They landed on the back of the cliff with a thud, injuring the two of them as they hit the ground.

"Joe, keep him busy," said Izzy, who already had the gears turning in his head. "I've got an idea."

"Don't leave me alone with him!" Joe complained as he barely dodged a lightsaber swipe from Devimon. The two parried attacks from the other before locking sabers.

"Ah, yes, you're the one I slashed on the leg," Devimon taunted, recognizing Joe after a moment. "Tell me, how did it feel when I did that?"

Joe gritted his teeth and swept the saber away with a jerk of his hand. His saber spun in all directions as he blocked Devimon's attacks that came in a flash of blue light against red. Soon, his wrist began to hurt from all the quick defenses that Soresu preached.

' _Izzy, where are you?'_ he thought as his saber locked with Devimon's once again.

The Digimon tried to overpower him by using his strength to push Joe back, but the boy gritted his teeth and gave a determined cry as he pushed right back. They then broke apart after realizing it would be a stalemate.

"Hey, Devimon!"

The two turned to see Izzy standing on the path above the one the whole group was standing on. He then jumped off of the ledge with a running start, somersaulting in mid-air, and then landed on Devimon's shoulder.

Izzy then started going to work by hacking away, scratching the vampire's shoulder and trapezius severely. While he was distracted, Joe landed a strike on Devimon's legs, which only made him more angry as he cried out in pain.

As Izzy tried to move to his other shoulder, Devimon caught him with a Force hold that kept the boy suspended in mid air while using his other hand to push Joe away with the Force.

"You thought you could destroy me by a thousand cuts?" Devimon snarled at Izzy. "Well, you'll have to do better than that."

With one gesture of his hand, he sent Izzy flying straight into Joe. The two boys groaned once Izzy collided with him and landed on his stomach, knocking the wind out of Joe.

Leomon growled silently, feeling compelled to step in and join the action before one of the children ended up being killed or seriously injured.

"You're mine now!" he roared as he leapt towards Devimon, his green lightsaber hanging over his head in preparation to attack.

What Leomon did not anticipate was Ogremon jumping out from Devimon's back like the xenomorph's inner jaw. He was so surprised by it that he couldn't raise his saber in time to block the attack, sending him flying past the trees and deep into the forest.

"So much for the overgrown kitty cat," Ogremon cackled before retreating back into Devimon's body.

In the meantime, Sora and Mimi were engaged with Devimon in battle. Mimi did her best, but she was easily disposed of as Devimon threw her right into Izzy and Joe. Sora tried overpowering him with a series of swift attacks from different angles to throw him off balance. It didn't work as he used the Force to send her colliding with Tai and Matt, who had recovered from the Force lightning assault and were looking to jump back into the fight.

Devimon then set his sights directly on TK, just like the last time. The young boy looked on nervously as the giant Digimon made its way towards him, holding up his lightsaber in a defensive stance to show Devimon he was going to protect himself.

"There's nowhere left to run now, my little friend," he hissed. "There's no one to protect you. They say the smallest will destroy me. Well, I'm not going to let that happen."

"TK!" Matt cried as he and the others tried to distract Devimon by engaging him all at once.

Devimon was annoyed by this little attempt at distracting him and used the Force to create an energy field around him that pushed the group of children back into the cliff wall. His attention returned to TK.

"It's over now for you," he said, reaching his hand out to grab the boy. "Be a good little boy and maybe it won't hurt as bad."

Tears streamed down TK's face as the hand got closer and closer to him. He felt that this was the end for him, no matter what he could do. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

But then Patamon's words echoed in his mind.

" _Remember that even the smallest person can change the course of events, TK. No matter how much you're afraid, or how much things seem bleak, always have hope that things will turn out all right."_

' _He's right. I can't sit around and wait to be destroyed. If I am, then he'll simply destroy the others.'_

Steeling himself to be brave, TK's face morphed into one of determination. He then held his lightsaber like a baseball player stepping up to bat and swiped with a strike from the left side.

Devimon roared in pain as his hand fell from his arm to the ground with a thud. The other kids looked up in shock to see that TK had cut off Devimon's hand, not expecting that to happen at all.

"You'll pay for that, you little pipsqueak!" the Digimon roared as he brought his lightsaber hand down onto the boy, who blocked it before parrying his lightsaber to the side.

Seeing his opportunity, TK leaped from the ground towards him. Everything passed in slow motion as Ogremon tried to stop the boy with a well-timed strike. Just like with Devimon, TK simply knocked his saber away and kicked the ogre in the chest before running along the thing that connected Ogremon to Devimon. With a roar of determination, he plunged his lightsaber deep into Devimon's chest.

' _I did it,'_ he realized, a smile beginning to grow on his young face as he leaped down to the ground below. _'I did it for real this time.'_

That same thought ran through the minds of the other kids as they looked on in shock at what had just happened.

Even though he had been run through the chest, Devimon cackled loudly as his entire body began to disappear in little particles.

"You fools. You may have defeated me, but I am just merely a pawn in this little game. There are bigger and badder Digimon just waiting around the corner, like my master. Just you wait, you will not have it so easy with him. Master Myotismon will mop the floor with you! But until then, you will have to find your way back to each other first."

Using his remaining hand, dark energy began to pool within it. He then threw the ball of energy outward, which opened to reveal a portal that started to suck everything in. The winds were so powerful that the kids immediately grabbed onto something to keep themselves from being sucked in.

Devimon's evil laughter echoed throughout the mountainside as he finally disappeared into nothingness.

"Hold on, guys!" Tai cried as they held on to boulders and tree branches to try and ride out the portal's powerful energy. The gusting winds tossed his hair in all directions, looking more like a hurricane wind flag than a part of his body.

A scream rang out as Sora couldn't hold on to the base of a tree any longer. She skidded across the ground towards the black hole.

"Tai, help!" she cried.

Tai let go of the branch without hesitation and grabbed her hand before she could get any closer, pulling her back in as much as he could against the powerful winds.

"I've got you," he assured her. "Just hang on!"

Once she got close enough to grab onto a low-hanging branch, Tai couldn't keep his balance and was then pulled in.

"Guys, help!" he cried as he fell into the black hole.

It closed once he disappeared. The winds stopped, which everyone was thankful for, but that didn't take away from what had just happened.

"Tai!" they all cried, stunned at the loss of their friend and leader.

"Where did he go?" TK asked.

Sora stood in stunned silence. Tai had saved her from going in by letting himself be taken instead. It was the bravest thing she had ever seen him do for her. Her heart ached with an emptiness that had just formed seeing the spot where her best friend had disappeared. The desperate look in his eyes was permanently tattooed on her brain.

' _Why did you have to sacrifice yourself, you baka?'_ she thought as tears began to run down her face.

"Come back!" she cried as she fell to her knees and sobbed.

* * *

 **Oh no! Tai's gone! Where did he go? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **I'd like to make an announcement real quick. Rather than posting the next chapter next weekend, I am going to update on...Odaiba** **Day! That's right; Wednesday, August 1st will be the next update of The Destined Jedi, since the next chapter happens to revolve around that day. I'm sure you know it already, but gotta keep the suspense somehow XD**

 **Have a great weekend, everyone, and make sure to leave a review and hit that subscribe button to get more Destined Jedi. They really help me, whether you know it or not.**


	17. Home Away From Home

**HAPPY ODAIBA DAY! Man, to think that it has almost been twenty years since seven kids were transported to the Digital World to battle monsters. I am currently in L.A., having a great time, so I will start on the next chapter when I get home.**

 **Let's answer some reviews.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Don't worry. I have bigger plans for Leomon going forward, so that's why he didn't die right away. Glad to know it was good.**

 **Music Chick: Thanks for the very detailed review. I love seeing those because it lets me know what you guys like about each section. Yes, I subconsciously knew that I was bringing out Matt's softer side while he was taking care of Joe, though we will see if he keeps that up going forward, especially in a couple chapters from now. Tai saving Sora was something I knew I wanted to happen, so I did it. We'll see if something happens in the future.**

 **And thanks for your encouraging message, Emperor Serperior. I appreciate it.**

 **Until then, enjoy this little installment.**

 **If you want to know where Tai went, here is your answer...**

* * *

It was impossibly hot, almost like walking into a fiery furnace. The heat radiated off of the concrete ground like ripples in the air, bringing misery to anyone who felt it. The humidity weighed down on Tai like a weight that couldn't be lifted. Not even a gentle breeze blowing across his face could bring any relief.

But Tai did not seem to notice how hot it was.

"Where…am I?" he said breathlessly, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. It couldn't be.

All around him, other people walked about the entire park. No one seemed to notice the boy standing stupefied as if he were in a trance because they were too occupied with their own matters. It was the strangest thing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Tai caught a glimpse of the buildings that surrounded the park, instantly recognizing one of them as the Fuji TV station, as well as the under-construction Aqua City. Looking further, he could see the Daikanransha Ferris wheel and across the bay was the Rainbow Bridge. Could it be that he was back in the real world?

' _This all looks real,'_ he thought to himself, still mystified by what he was seeing. _'This is the park I played in when I was a kid. Who knows, maybe it's a different world that just looks like the real one but my brain is telling me that it is.'_

A ball bounced against his right leg, snapping him out of his trance. He looked down to see the round orange object resting against his foot like a parked bicycle.

"I'm sorry, mister," a young girl's voice came, running up to Tai and clutching the ball back into her hands. The girl looked to be about seven or eight and had her brown hair tied up on both sides.

"Hey, tell me something," he said, wanting some answers to the many questions running through his mind. "Is this world for real, or am I imagining it?"

The girl looked at him as though he had lobsters crawling out of his ears.

"Wha?" she asked.

"Are you a real girl or a digital girl? Please, tell me. I'm desperate to know." Tai cringed as he said those words. Now she was going to think he was a creeper for asking that.

Sure enough, the girl ran away crying from the strange boy asking these weird questions to her. Tai could feel all eyes on him as people began whispering about him making her cry, which made him even more nervous by the second. There was nothing else to do but run.

' _I've gotta get out of here!'_ he told himself as he ran from the park.

Dashing out across the crosswalk and going further down the street, Tai began to slow down once he saw that no one was following him from the park. Breathing a sigh of relief, he closed his eyes to focus on the Force energy that surrounded him. Maybe it could tell him where he was.

The thoughts of those around him, and even the entire area, overwhelmed his mind. People rushing towards their next destination, worrying about what was going to be for dinner later, how tired they felt, among many other things that flooded his senses.

After returning his consciousness to reality, he knew that it was absolutely the real thing. These people weren't digital people in a different universe; this was indeed Odaiba, the place he grew up in and was proud to call his home.

The happiness from this realization boiled itself over until he couldn't contain it anymore. With a cry of happiness, he skipped along the road while swinging around lampposts like a ballet dancer.

"The hills are alive, with the sound of music!" he sang happily, not minding the confused glares of passersby. "With songs they have sung for a thousand years."

Coming down from his display of happiness, Tai's first thoughts were getting home and seeing his family. He hadn't seen them in a month, and was desperate to finally see their faces. Maybe Kari was starting to feel better while he was away.

Then it dawned on him: had it really been a month since he and the others were brought to the Digital World? What if the school had sent their families letters notifying them that they were missing? Would it be a shock to his parents if he came home now? He would just have to find out for himself.

* * *

Despite the heat, Tai walked the two-mile journey to his apartment building. To stay cool, he would duck inside alleyways for a few seconds before continuing on. He was so determined to get home that nothing, not even the scorching humidity of a hot Tokyo summer day, was going to stop him.

Tai looked up at the twenty-story structure of his apartment building, located just in front of Tokyo Bay with the best views of the Rainbow Bridge when it would light up at night. It was hard for the boy not to get emotional because he hadn't been home in so long. Tears threatened to fall down his face, but he managed to keep himself together, deciding to spill his tears when he saw his family.

With the last bit of strength he had left, he ran straight for the building until the blessed shade washed over him like a wave on the ocean.

He entered the elevator and pressed the number corresponding to the floor his family's apartment was on. Tai wondered just how long it had really been in the real world while he and the others were in the Digital World. What if it had been years, or centuries, since they were gone and he entered the wrong time period? What if everything he knew was no longer there?

' _Once I figure this out, I'm calling the others and seeing about hooking up,'_ he noted to himself as the elevator doors opened with a ding after ascending the distance.

He nervously stepped out and walked down the balcony until he stood just in front of the apartment. The nameplate next to the door said 'Kamiya', and had an ornament in the shape of an ice cream cone hanging off of it. Tai remembered when his father put that plate up the day they first moved in from Hikarigaoka four years prior.

' _Boy, wouldn't that be nice right now,'_ he thought as his eyes gazed at the ornament for several seconds. _'Well, here goes nothing.'_

His hand grabbed the handle to the door and pushed it down to open it. He initially expected it to be locked, but it opened with a low creak. He cocked his eyebrows in surprise. Did this mean that his parents were home?

With a deep breath, he pulled the door open the rest of the way to reveal the dark apartment before him. With the sliding doors on the opposite side of the living room, he could see clear out to the other side of Tokyo Bay, as well as the Rainbow Bridge. A small smile began to cross his face as it sank in that he was home. He was really home.

Stepping into the tile-covered genkan, Tai noticed that his parents' shoes were all piled neatly to the side of the door, as well as Kari's sandals.

"Mom?" he called softly. "Dad?"

No one answered. Come to think of it, Tai could not sense their presence either.

' _They must be out somewhere,'_ Tai thought as the door closed behind him. _'I wonder where they went.'_

Removing his shoes, Tai stepped up onto the hardwood floors. His sock-covered feet slid across the floors as he walked into the kitchen. Not to criticize Gennai's cooking, but Tai was ready for something from the real world for a change.

Diving into the fridge, Tai popped open a can of Coca-Cola and chugged it down like a man who hadn't had anything to drink in over a week. He breathed through his nose as the sweet, fizzy drink worked its way down his throat before finally running out.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" he sighed as he closed the fridge, feeling content. "That hit the spot. Now to find out where everyone is, and how long I've been gone."

Turning his attention back to the fridge, his eyes glanced over to the tear-away calendar near the handle. His eyes bulged out of his skull once he saw the date: August 1st.

' _No way! That's not possible! How can it still be August 1st?!'_

His mind was running at a million miles a minute as he tried to process this information. This was the day that he and the others were transported to the Digital World and were given the lightsabers. Did this mean that there was another him that just got transported at the campsite?

' _Now I'm starting to sound like Izzy,'_ he groaned. And he thought Izzy watched too many movies.

The realization that it was still the first day of August also reminded Tai of something else: not only was it the day he left for camp, but also the day that his parents were going to visit his grandmother, who lived just outside of the city, because of an emergency that had popped up. They must have taken Kari with them as well, which explained why no one was home.

A yawn from his bedroom caught his attention. Sensing a familiar presence in the other room, he turned as the door opened.

"Hi, Tai. Aren't you supposed to be at camp?"

Standing in the doorway was Kari, still dressed in her pajamas from earlier that morning when he tucked her into bed. A camp whistle on a pink lanyard hung around her neck like a favorite necklace. Her short brown hair was messy after laying in bed for so long, and her big brown eyes glimmered with innocence. The eight-year-old girl seemed to look a lot better than when he left her that morning, which brought a smile to his face.

"Kari, what are you doing here?" he said, returning her inquiry with one of his own. "Mom and Dad left you here all by yourself?"

That fateful day flashed before his eyes once again, causing him to shudder, but Kari simply smiled at him.

"I'm a big girl," she replied.

"But you're sick."

"Not anymore. I feel much better now."

"I'll be the judge of that," he said, placing a hand on her forehead. She didn't feel overly hot; a little, but not enough to show signs of a fever.

Kari noticed a strange symbol in the shape of a sun on her brother's arm. He didn't have that before, so she was curious as to where he got it. She would have to ask him about it later.

"You're all right," he smiled, finally taking the chance to give his younger sister a hug. It had been too long since he held her in an embrace, even though in reality, it had just been that morning.

"Told you so," she smirked as her brother began sobbing in the embrace. He picked her up and swung her around in his jubilation.

"I'm so glad to see you," he whispered.

"What's wrong?" she asked, confused as to why he was acting this way. "Why are you acting like you haven't seen me in weeks?"

He set her down to the floor. Lost in all of the excitement of being home, Tai forgot just how hungry he was. His stomach was rumbling up a storm, demanding food that instant.

"It's a long story," he said. "In the meantime, how about I make us a healthy breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me," Kari smiled.

Up at the stove, Tai cracked a few eggs and stirred them together before putting the mixture onto the pan. He then added rice to make a rice omelet. Matt and Gennai had showed him how to cook one day during their training at his insistence, and that was what they showed him. After a few more minutes, he transferred the omelets over to two plates before topping them off with salsa.

"Come and get it," he called, bringing the plates over to the table.

"Itadakimasu!" they both said before Tai dived into the food like a wolf to caribou carcass.

Kari, however, took small bites of the omelet, finding it surprisingly delicious. Tai was not known for his cooking skills when he was at home, though she couldn't say she cared for her mother's either.

"Tai, you never cook. Did you learn how while at camp?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied with his mouth full. "My friend Matt taught me how while we were in the Digital World."

"What's that?"

Tai realized he said too much. He hadn't even explained what had happened to him and the others yet. So he did, telling Kari all about their adventures so far: how they arrived in the Digital World, being defeated by Devimon, their training, and defeating Devimon for good before he got sucked into the wormhole.

Kari watched in wide-eyed fascination as her brother told her the story. It all sounded so unbelievable, but she strangely felt as though he was telling the truth. That there really was a digital world, and there were these creatures called Digimon living there.

"So you've been gone for weeks, if not months, even though it's still the same day?" she asked once he finished telling her the story.

"Yeah, seems that way," he nodded. "That reminds me. I better check to see if the others got home too."

He ran to the phone and started dialing away at every phone number he knew. Kari watched as he urged for the person he was calling to pick up.

"Hello, Mrs. Izumi? It's Tai….Oh, I'm fine. How are you?...Glad to hear that. Hey, is Izzy there by any chance?...Summer camp? Oh, okay. I was just asking because I got home early and was wondering if he did too…No, no. Everything's fine, don't worry… Thanks."

Tai then hung up.

' _Let's try Sora,'_ he thought as he dialed her number. Her mother answered the phone after a few tones.

"Hi, Mrs. T. Has Sora talked to you by any chance?...Not since she left for camp? Okay. Thanks anyway."

"Matt hasn't called home or anything?...Thanks anyway, Mr. Ishida. I appreciate it."

A feeling of dread fell over Tai as he put the phone back on the receiver. He was the only one who had made it through the time warp after all. Everyone else was still in Digi-World. He took his lightsaber off of his belt and looked at it.

"What am I gonna do?" he asked himself quietly. "I have to find a way back. The others are counting on me. I wonder how they're doing now that I'm not there."

To take his mind off of these thoughts, Tai decided to plop himself on the couch and take a nap for a while. With a flick of the wrist, he turned on the television and the air conditioning via the Force. Behind him, Kari's eyes widened at what she saw, wondering how he did that. Tai was too content to care as he sang softly to himself, reveling in being home for the first time in a long time.

"I've got a beautiful feeling everything's going my way. Oh, what a beautiful day."

* * *

 _Tai once again found himself on the balcony that was adjacent to his bedroom. The air was nice and cool as the dark sky blanketed the world in darkness._

 _Just like before, he saw the wizard Digimon and the cat standing at the far edge of the balcony. The cat held a lightsaber in its paw and a hand stretched out to grab it. As soon as the hand made contact, a pink light erupted from the arm that the hand was attached to._

 _As the light cleared, Tai could see that a star-like symbol had appeared on it._

' _No doubt this is the eighth Jedi,' he realized._

 _His eyes traced up the arm, hoping to see the face of who it belonged to. He was about to get a glimpse of it..._

* * *

"Tai, wake up!"

Kari's voice shook Tai from his slumber, as well as the sensation of her hands nudging his body. His eyes fluttered open slightly to see her face was etched with a sense of urgency.

"What's wrong?" he yawned as he rubbed his eyes and sat up on the couch.

"Look. On the TV," she said pointing towards the television.

Tai looked over to see a report talking about the mysterious weather all around the world. As the news anchor went on about the various phenomenon going on, Tai's eyes widened at what he saw on the footage that played.

"Meramon," he gasped, seeing the flame Digimon appear on the television. It was more of a deep red than he previously remembered, but then disappeared just as soon as it appeared.

More Digimon were being shown as the reporter changed continents. Tai recognized one as the sea serpent that Matt killed on their first night in the Digital World, and then a snowman Digimon.

"What is going on here?" he said out loud, forgetting that Kari was in the room for a second. "How come I can see them, but the report doesn't even mention them?"

"That's what I've been wondering," said Kari. "I told Mom about them, but she said I was just seeing things."

This news unsettled Tai even more than the fact Digimon were appearing in the real world. Kari could see them too?

The television then cut out, followed by the air conditioner. Suddenly, Tai's head felt like it was splitting open, like a chainsaw was being sliced through his skull. There was a disturbance in the Force.

He fell to his knees, gritting his teeth, and did everything possible to stop the pain. Kari bent down to help him, but she didn't know what was going on with her brother. Even she felt her head start to hurt.

"T-Tai…" another voice came, sounding like it was fighting through static to be heard.

Tai looked up and saw that a transmission was slowly appearing before him in blue light. It was a very rough transmission with the person on the other end cutting in and out from sight.

"Tai…on't co- back here," Izzy's image appeared just long enough for Tai to see that it was him. "Total c-aos."

"Izzy?"

"Big d…anger. You're bett-r off wh-re y-ou are. D-don't c-come back."

"I can't just stay here and do nothing while you guys are in trouble," Tai replied as the transmission continued to cut in and out like there was something interfering with the reception. "I've got to find a way back. Tell me how I can do it."

Izzy tried to say something but the transmission cut out before he could say it.

Tai went to his bedroom to lay down on the bottom bunk of his bed. He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to process all of the information that was thrown at him. First, Digimon were appearing in the real world, and Kari could see them just like he could, and now his friends were in trouble back in Digi-World.

"What am I gonna do?" he asked himself. "My friends are in trouble and need my help, but I don't know how I'm going to get back."

He looked down at the lightsaber in his hand.

"I'm completely useless right now," he growled as he tossed the saber away, watching it skid across the hardwood floors noisily until it rolled against the door. "And I hate it."

Kari sensed her brother's distress from the other room. Without him knowing, she had noticed all the strange things that went on while he was around; the television and air conditioner magically turning on as he waved his hand, the symbol on his arm glowing a faint orange, and the metal object hanging off of his belt. The eight-year-old was even more curious about the Digital World after her brother told her about it.

"Just relax, Tai," she said, laying a tray of three big slices of watermelon on his desk. "Have some watermelon."

"No thanks," he shook his head mindlessly.

"Come on, don't be like that. It'll do you some good. I'm sure you'll figure out a solution to your problem. Maybe you might even find that eighth Jedi you've been looking for."

Tai's eyes widened. He hadn't even told her about the mysterious eighth Destined Jedi that he and the others were trying to find. How could she know about it?

He got up.

"How did you…?" he asked, too stunned to complete his question.

"You told me, didn't you?" she replied, wondering why he had gotten so flustered. "When you were telling the story."

"No I didn't! I never even mentioned that there was an eighth Jedi. How did you know about it?"

Kari shrugged.

"I don't know. I just knew it."

Tai was gobsmacked.

' _Why do I have this strange feeling that the eighth Jedi is closer than I think?'_ he wondered. _'If I can't go back to the Digital World, then maybe I should focus my energy on finding him. Two of us holding things down here in the real world would give the others plenty of time to fight off anything over in the Digital World.'_

He was about to ask Kari another question when the phone started to ring.

"I'll get it," she said, exiting the room.

Tai seethed over the phone halting his interrogation of how Kari knew about the eighth child. He knew he hadn't told her about it when he shared his adventures, so how could she have known?

It then hit him. Maybe it was one of his friends' parents calling him back to let him know that they had come back.

"Who is it?" he demanded upon opening the door and seeing Kari on the phone.

She nodded before answering, "I'll see you, Mom."

Tai's eyes widened before pushing her away and taking the phone into his hand so he could listen in on the conversation.

"Your father and I may be a little later than planned," said Mrs. Kamiya on the other line. "There's supposed to be a storm coming in, and there might be some heavy traffic getting back into town. Oh, and your grandparents want you and Tai to come and visit them as soon as you get well."

Tears pooled in Tai's eyes, threatening to spill down his cheeks as he heard his mother's voice. It just now hit him how much he missed hearing it, even though he did during the vision when she berated him. He loved his mother very much, and missed her every day he was in Digi-World.

Mrs. Kamiya must have noticed the silence on the other line because she spoke with a concerned tone.

"Kari? Are you listening? Kari? Are you still there, honey?"

"Mom," Tai said softly, his voice shaking with emotion.

"What? Tai?" Mrs. Kamiya began to say before Tai put the phone down on the receiver.

Kari sensed her brother's troubled spirit.

"What's happening, Tai?" she asked.

"Now I understand: it's not just the Digi-World that's in trouble," he replied. "Earth is in just as much danger. Digi-World's troubles are slipping through the dimension, and it's starting to affect this world too. I wish there was something I could do something about it, but I don't know how to get back."

A rumbling began to shake the entire apartment at that moment. The ground seemed to move three feet in each direction, making the Kamiya siblings feel like they were walking on ice as they kept their balance.

Just as soon as it began, the rumbling stopped after a few seconds, but Tai had already darted towards the balcony to get a look at what it could be.

Looking out, he could see something begin to emerge from Tokyo Bay just off of Odaiba Beach. A dark red, Tyrannosaurus Rex-like creature emerged from the water like Godzilla and immediately launched a fireball attack at a beam on the Rainbow Bridge. A loud explosion pierced the air as the fireball exploded upon impact.

Tai's eyes widened with horror. Some of the Digimon were beginning to appear in the real world and cause trouble. He needed to do something; he couldn't just sit on the sidelines anymore.

He ran back inside and darted towards the foyer to put his shoes on. He then used the Force to call his lightsaber from his bedroom door because he was definitely going to need it for what he was about to do.

"Tai, where are you going?" Kari asked.

"I've got to go sort this out," he replied, rushing out the door. "I'm going to find that dimensional rift so I can go back to Digi-World. Stay put and don't answer the door for anyone, ok?"

"But Tai…"

"No buts. Stay here."

The door then shut with a loud bang, leaving the eight-year-old all alone in the dark apartment once again.

* * *

Tai's legs pumped like pistons as they moved down the nineteen flights of stairs from his apartment to the ground floor of the building. Adrenaline flowed through his body, giving him more than enough energy to fight.

Just as he reached the terrace overlooking Odaiba Beach, the dinosaur disappeared from sight. Tai's mouth gaped open. It was almost like it wasn't there in the first place. Another rumble shook the earth as a giant mole-like Digimon emerged from the ground briefly before disappearing as well.

' _Where is that dimensional rift?'_ Tai growled to himself, his teeth gnashing painfully. He would be able to return to Digi-World if he could find it.

"Tai!"

He turned to see Kari chasing after him, still in her pajamas with a pink coat around her. He stopped her, placing his hands on her shoulders as soon as she finished crossing.

"Wait for me! I want to go with you."

"Kari, I told you to stay at home!" he chastised. "It's too dangerous for you."

"Please, Tai?" she begged. "Oh, please? Please?"

"No! Damn it, Kari, why won't you follow my instructions? I'm trying to keep you safe!"

A familiar presence stopped Tai's scolding of his younger sister. Turning to his left, his face paled at what he saw.

"Ogremon!" he cried, activating his lightsaber with one hand and shoving Kari behind him with the other. "Stay behind me, Kari."

The ogre Digimon stood on the other side of the street, waiting patiently for the light to change so that he could proceed. His red lightsaber was activated and his arm hung loosely at his side.

What surprised Tai about his appearance was that no one else but he and Kari seemed to notice Ogremon's presence. Not one of the other pedestrians screamed or noticed anything strange; just carrying on like normal.

' _How can that be?'_ he wondered. _'Maybe if I wait, he'll disappear like the others.'_

The seconds ticked by almost audibly as Tai waited for the light to change, and the attack that he knew would be coming from Ogremon. He had to protect Kari at all costs. She was the light of his life, and it needed to be preserved.

Then, like a referee giving the command to fight, the walking sign flickered on and Ogremon did not waste any time, flying towards the Kamiya siblings like a cheetah towards its prey.

Tai pulled Kari away as he dodged Ogremon's attack, which created a hole in the ground. The two of them then traded strikes as they locked themselves into a stalemate.

"Kari, run!" Tai cried as he and Ogremon were engaged in a saber lock. "Go back home! You'll be safe there!"

"I can't leave you," she replied, tears beginning to build up in her eyes.

"Please! I'm not asking you! I'm telling you!"

He felt his frustration begin to rise before he kicked Ogremon in the mid-section to break their lock. He then found his rhythm and started landing a multitude of strikes that had Ogremon falling back defensively. One then forced him on his back, which Tai tried to take advantage of. He went for a leaping strike, but he must have taken too long because Ogremon was able to rise and send him back with a Force push. Tai skidded across the ground until he came to rest mere inches from the pavement.

"Tai, get up!" he could hear Kari scream, but he was too dazed to move.

To Tai's horror, Ogremon set his sights on Kari. The little girl shook nervously as he began to charge towards her.

The symbol on Tai's arm glowed a bright orange as he mustered up his will to protect his little sister from harm. The glowing seemed to do something as a dimensional rift opened above them, giving Tai precious little time to act.

"Take a hike!" he growled before unleashing the most powerful Force push he could to send Ogremon flying into the vacuum effect that resulted from the rift. The ogre flew up into the opening in the sky and disappeared from sight.

Tai then turned to Kari.

"Are you ok, Kari?" he asked, checking her for any injuries.

"I'm fine, don't worry," she smiled at him with that adorable smile that warmed his heart.

Tai looked up at the dimensional rift, seeing everything near them being sucked up into it. He knew that it was time for him to go back.

"I've got to go now, Kari," he said, beginning to let his guard down so he could be sucked up too. "Go back home and wait for Mom and Dad to return."

"No! Stay with me!" she cried, grabbing his arm before he could move an inch. "Why do you have to go? Why can't it be someone else?"

Her tone broke his heart. She sounded like he would be leaving and never coming back. He turned to bend down to her level, a warm gleam sparkling in his eyes. He noticed tears beginning to streak down her cheeks.

"Because I'm the only one who can help," he replied softly, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "Everyone is counting on me, and I can't let them down. I need you to be a big, brave girl for me, Kari, okay? Can you do that?"

With a sniffle, Kari wiped away her tears and gave her brother a nod. She hugged him tightly, not wanting to let him go.

"Please be careful," she said.

"Aren't I always?" he chuckled, hugging her back and planting a kiss on her forehead.

The forces of gravity then became too much as Tai began to float into the air, his eyes never leaving his little sister as he was carried further and further away from her.

"Goodbye, Kari!" he cried with a wave. "I love you!"

"I love you too! Don't forget about me!" Kari shouted back as she watched her older brother disappear from sight.

* * *

 _File Island_

 _Digital World_

After a few seconds, Tai found himself in familiar surroundings. Big pine trees surrounded him, and his eyes followed the long slopes of Infinity Mountain until they rested on the peak.

' _I'm back,'_ he realized, a smile creeping its way onto his face.

"Guys!" he shouted. "I'm back! Where are you?"

His words echoed across the field, but no one was there to answer.

' _They must have started looking for me,'_ he thought. _'Maybe they are somewhere else on the island. I have to find them and let them know what I learned.'_

" _Nice to see you back in the realm of the living, Tai,"_ a jovial, rough voice chuckled from inside his head.

Tai recognized that voice anywhere.

"Gennai," he replied. "Where is everyone?"

" _They went their own ways looking for you,"_ said the old man. _"They all must be on Server by now."_

"Then that's the first place I'll go," Tai nodded before running for the beach.

" _Be careful, Tai,"_ the old man warned as he ran. _"A greater evil waits to reveal itself to you and the others while on Server. So, step lightly."_

* * *

 **So a lot to digest in this chapter. Tai goes back to the real world, finds out it's the exact same day when he and the others left, and now he's back in the Digital World. Where did the others go? We'll find out soon on the next installment of 'The Destined Jedi'. And j** **ust how did Kari know about the eighth Destined Jedi when Tai didn't tell her? Is it possible she's the one? You will just have to find out when the time comes.**

 **Song blurbs are "Oh, What A Beautiful Morning" from the musical Oklahoma, and of course the title song from "The Sound of Music". All belong to Rodgers and Hammerstein, so I do not take credit for those.**

 **Hope you all are having a smashing Odaiba Day. Cannot believe that over a month from now 'Future' comes out in the theater, signaling the end of Tri. It is very bittersweet because I have loved getting to know these characters on a more relatable level since they're in my age range, but hopefully we get to see them again in the next series because all signs seem to point to the 02 kids getting it. On the plus side, six more days until Coexistence comes out on DVD!**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe and I will see you all next week when I get back from L.A. Have a great week, everyone.**


	18. The Lake of Separation

**Reviews to be answered:**

 **honter11: Good to hear from you for the first time in a while. That is a fair deal, I will see what I can do. I am a man of my word and once I make a promise, I keep it.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Glad you think so. The deal with the musical inserts is I wanted a recurring thing happening throughout the story and I always felt Tai would do something like that, so I had him do it. Plus I like musicals as well.**

 **Music Chick: Yes, he is quite the heartbreaker XD He was living it large while everyone else is in danger. You're about to find out how long he was gone from the Digi-World.**

* * *

 **Back from L.A. and ready to keep on truckin'. Now that Tai's back in the Digi-World, will he find the others? Let's find out.**

* * *

The harsh desert winds blew sand across the entire barren landscape, sending sand swirling around for miles and miles until it would finally find rest somewhere. Tai had no idea that he would be dealing with a sandstorm as soon as he got to Server. The sand blew against his legs, getting into his socks and shoes. If it weren't for his goggles, he would be walking completely blind in the storm.

Three days had passed since he had returned to the Digital World after making a brief stay in the real world, where he learned that virtually no time had passed since he and the others had been gone. With that in mind, he knew that no matter how long they stayed this time, everything would remain the same back in Odaiba.

' _I just hope Kari's okay,'_ he thought, remembering her sad face as he floated away from her. It almost broke his heart to leave her alone just when he got back, but some things were more important. She would be safer at home than in the Digital World. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to her. The first time was bad enough that he didn't want it to happen again.

He first searched File Island for the others, but had no luck. Tai then expanded the search to Server, spending a day crossing the ocean between File Island and the continent before arriving. He looked under every rock, behind every tree, and every pond or lake that he could find but the results were all the same: no one could be found.

' _Man. If they were looking for me, I should have found them by now,'_ he thought as he got himself in tune with the Force to try and pick up readings of Force energy. That only complicated matters because everywhere in the Digital World was flowing with Force energy, and thus Tai could not get a reading on a specific energy.

" _Tai,"_ a voice echoed in his head.

Tai's head craned swiftly from left to right, hoping to locate the source of the voice. It then hit him that the voice was coming from inside his mind.

"Agumon? Is that you?" he responded, wondering if it was his Digimon guardian coming to advise him again.

" _Not quite,"_ it said.

A light then glowed in front of Tai as the source of the voice revealed itself to be Patamon. It looked up at him with big, innocent blue eyes that masked a sense of urgency.

"You're Patamon, right?" Tai asked, remembering that the Digimon was partnered with TK. "TK's guardian."

The guinea pig-like Digimon nodded in confirmation. "That's me."

"What's the problem?"

"TK's in trouble. I've come to lead you to him."

"Where is he?" Tai asked, his eyes widening in horror at the prospect of the youngest member of their group being in danger. "Take me to him, Patamon!"

The Digimon nodded and flew towards the northwest with Tai following right behind. The two soon left the desert, crossing over a brick bridge to enter a forest with a stream running right through it. They followed the stream, knowing that it would eventually lead them to the end of it. The two were in silence the entire time as Tai was determined to find his friends.

Soon the trees gave way to a lake that stretched for miles, so wide that Tai could not see to the other side. A gentle breeze blew through the air, cooling out the heat of the desert in a matter of seconds. Tai couldn't stay silent anymore. He had to know what happened while he was away.

"What's happened since I've been gone, Patamon?" he finally asked. "Where is everybody?"

"I don't know the specifics, but all I know is that the group split up trying to look for you," explained Patamon. "Along the way they all went different ways, and now poor TK is all by himself at that amusement park over there."

Tai's eyes followed where the flying guinea pig was pointing before bulging out of their sockets at what he saw. A roller coaster track, Ferris wheel, and countless other rides that Tai couldn't name at that moment all emerged from just above the tree line. The corners of his lips slowly curved into a smile at the thought of having some fun.

But before he could do anything, Tai noticed a long metal object laying on the outside of his right foot. He reached down to take it into his hand, realizing that it was TK's lightsaber once he inspected it closely. The boy was definitely close by. Tai could sense it.

"TK!" he called at the top of his voice. "TK! Where are you?"

Tai repeated this call two more times, but there was no response. Rather, his calls echoed on the wind, filling the entire lake with the sound of his voice. Now he was even more concerned.

"I'm going in to get him, Patamon."

"Be careful, Tai," said the Digimon. "Something is behind all of this, and I don't like it one bit."

Patamon then vanished, leaving Tai with those ominous words echoing through his mind. Just what exactly happened while he was gone? The only way he was going to find out was to find TK.

Without a moment to lose, he ran towards the amusement park. Now that he was closer, he was beginning to sense TK's Force energy beckoning to him like a siren's call. His stride became even longer as he ran, even more determined to get to the youngest of the Destined Jedi.

"TK!" he called. "TK!"

After a few more steps, Tai saw a head of blonde hair underneath a green cap sitting at a table. The smile on Tai's face grew even wider once he realized that it was the boy he was looking for.

"Hey, TK!" he cried to get the boy's attention.

TK looked up from the table to see who was calling his name. Once he saw that it was Tai, a smile erupted on his face.

"Tai, it's you! You're back!"

"What's up, little dude?" Tai replied just as happily, flashing his famous Kamiya smile. "It's going to take a lot more to keep me down."

The young blonde was so happy to see his friend that he ran to wrap his arms around Tai's waist in a hug. The older boy returned the embrace, ruffling the boy's head as tears of joy cascaded down TK's face.

"Glad to see you're okay, little guy," said Tai. "Where's everybody else?"

TK's face fell at the mention of the others. Tai did not take this as a good sign since TK turned away from him, folding his arms in a huff.

"Why should I care?" the boy snapped bitterly. "They all left me, even Matt. I wanted to keep searching for you, but the others all went their own ways and Matt didn't even want to keep looking for you."

Tai's eyes widened at this news. Everyone separated, and Matt left TK on his own? That just didn't seem right. He needed to get to the bottom of this.

"Whoa there, TK," he said, grabbing the boy by his shoulders and kneeling down to his level. "Start at the beginning. What really happened? Tell me everything."

TK took a deep breath as he began to explain everything that happened after Tai disappeared.

"Well, it all started when you disappeared…"

* * *

 _Three months prior_

The others stood in shock as Sora sobbed on the ground, just staring at where the wormhole had closed and Tai disappeared along with it. Not only did they lose a friend, but they didn't know what to do next. Tai was the one who pointed them in a direction and led them through, but now he wasn't there. They had to do this themselves.

"Tai," Sora choked as she continued to sob, staring longingly at her hand as she still felt his touch radiating through her like a third-degree burn. He had given himself up to save her, and she was forever thankful for it. At the same time, he didn't have to try and be a hero like that.

"What do we do now?" Mimi asked.

"We're doomed," said Joe. "Without Tai, we'll never be able to destroy this Myotismon. If he's as powerful as Devimon said, then we have no chance of winning. It's over."

Matt growled at this defeatist attitude. He hated how Joe would just give up when the going got tough.

"Let's not despair, Joe," he replied to the older boy. "We still have each other. As long as we stick together, we'll be just fine. We were the Destined Jedi with Tai, and we still are without him."

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Joe retorted.

Izzy finally spoke after recovering from the shock. "We don't know where Tai could be, so the logical answer would be to search for him. It's better than sitting around and feeling sorry for ourselves."

Everyone nodded in agreement, thankful to have some kind of direction. Izzy was right; getting up and searching was better than sitting around mourning the loss of their leader. If there was a chance that Tai was transported somewhere else in the Digital World, they needed to take advantage of it.

"But where would we start?" TK asked. "This place is humungous!"

Matt quickly answered that question. "Let's start with the island. Maybe he was just transported to another part, possibly one we've been to already."

"How do you know?" asked Mimi. "For all we know, he could be in another universe. I don't want to walk anymore."

"I just know, okay?" Matt snapped, gritting his teeth in frustration. Everyone got really quiet the second he did that. His face then softened, uttering an apology.

"I'm sorry, everyone. We're all stressed and worried about Tai, but we shouldn't get hysterical. Come on, let's get out of here."

Everyone's eyes then turned to Sora, continuing to stare blankly ahead with tears running down her face. She hadn't heard a thing that was said, and it saddened them all to see her like this since she was usually a tough-as-nails girl.

"Joe, get her up."

The bespectacled boy was shocked at the order.

"Give her a moment, Matt, for pity's sake," he bucked.

"Mourning is not going to get us anywhere. We need to start looking because the sooner we find Tai, the sooner we can plan how we are going to defeat this Myotismon."

Joe bit his lip as he struggled to make a decision. Choosing between Matt's order and what basic decency told him to do was making his head hurt, and not just from Izzy crashing into him earlier.

Finally, he decided to follow orders and make his way over to the auburn-haired girl on the ground.

"Sora, come on," he said gently, picking her up from beneath her arms until she stood on her own. "We need to go."

"But Tai…"

"We'll find him. I promise you. But we need to start searching for him. It won't do us any good by standing here."

Sora finally nodded in understanding as Joe led her back to the group. Now that they were all together again, Matt beckoned them to follow.

"Let's go."

And so the group searched the entire island, revisiting all the old spots that they had been to before and even some new places. Unfortunately, their efforts were all for naught as they couldn't find Tai anywhere. After two days of this, they took the search to Server.

It took three days to get to the continent by a small raft that they had made from nearby trees and logs. Everyone was tired from the lack of food, fresh water, and sleep, but the group of Jedi were determined to find their leader. Nothing was going to stop them from accomplishing that goal.

After spending three weeks wandering in the desert, the group woke up one morning to find that Sora was gone. She left them a recorded holographic message saying that she was going to find Tai on her own but she would return to them once she did.

"Why did Sora have to go off on her own?" TK grumbled as everyone continued walking among the scorching heat and sandy dunes.

"It'll be all right, TK," his older brother smiled hopefully. "She'll be back soon."

"I hope so."

Two days later, Izzy came up with the idea that they split up to cover more ground, and thus find Tai much faster.

"No way!" Joe protested. "If we split up, we will just get even more lost. It's best if we stick together."

"But Joe, how would we find him otherwise?" Izzy retorted. "It's perfectly reasonable. I'm going to see if I can find Gennai. Maybe he can help us find where Tai is."

"Do you even remember where to go to get to his house?"

"Of course I do," Izzy rolled his eyes. "I memorized the path we took the last time we came here."

"If that's what you want to do, then go," said Matt as Izzy went off to their left. Everyone else continued on.

They crossed the desert for several more days, running into several bad Digimon but managing to fight their way out. Joe was the next one to leave as he continued to cling to the idea that there could be other people in the Digital World, even though it had long been established there weren't. Mimi followed two days later, leaving the two blonde-haired brothers as the only Destined Jedi left.

The day after Mimi left, Matt and TK came across a brick bridge that led to a forest, which would have made them happy if TK wasn't so bothered by everyone else leaving.

"Why did everyone go away?" he grumbled as he and Matt looked down at the stream below them. "When you're lost, you're supposed to stay together."

"We all just had different ideas on what to do, TK," his brother replied. "We've looked everywhere. If Tai were anywhere in this area, we would have found him."

"Maybe there was a place we didn't check!" the young boy desperately pleaded, tears beginning to fill his eyes. "We have to keep searching! Come on, Matt! We have to find Tai!"

"It's hopeless, all right?" Matt growled out of frustration. "We've already done everything we could, so shut up!"

Matt chided himself for his outburst as TK burst into tears.

"Hey, come on. Don't cry. I didn't mean it, ok?" he said, trying to control the damage he caused. "I'm sure that Tai is perfectly fine wherever he is."

TK stopped crying as he looked up at his brother with hopeful eyes.

"Really, Matt?" he asked. "You mean it?"

"You bet. We'll find him, I promise."

With that out of the way, the two continued on through the forest in silence, trying to sense Tai's presence through the Force. Due to being older and having a higher ability than TK, Matt concentrated on sensing it. The problem with that was there was Force energy all over the place, so it was hard to narrow down a specific energy.

Soon, they saw what looked to be a Ferris wheel appear over the top of the trees ahead. As they moved further along, even more rides began to appear to show that it was a real amusement park. Or was it?

"Wow," TK cried, eyes widened in awe. "This is so cool, Matt! Everyone's gonna love this. But is it real?"

Matt shrugged. "Guess we'll have to find out."

Finally the two of them entered the amusement park. The first thing that jumped out at them was the fact that no one inhabited the area, which surprised the two of them. By all indications, there should be at least a few people or Digimon around, but there weren't. It felt like an abandoned amusement park, almost like Nara Dreamland, but everything was still well maintained and the streets were clean.

Moving away from the park, the two reached a dock with a paddleboat in the shape of a swan floating on the water. As the two stared out at the lake that stretched for miles, Matt knew what he had to do.

"I'm gonna go look around," he said.

"What?" TK asked, curious as to what Matt had in mind.

"You heard me. I'm going to have a look around, get a feel for what is around the lake. You sure you'll be okay without me here?"

After a brief moment, TK hesitantly nodded.

"I'll be fine. If I can destroy Devimon on my own and not be afraid, then I can survive without you for a little while."

"That's my big little bro," Matt chuckled, ruffling the boy's head. "Now just stay here and wait for me, okay? I'll be back in a couple of hours at the most, so I won't be long. I promise."

TK nodded more confidently this time. Matt then got into the boat and started paddling away.

"Remember that this is an amusement park, so amuse yourself or something," he called as he got a good distance away from the dock. "See you soon, kiddo. May the Force be with you."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine!" TK replied as he waved his brother goodbye.

xXxxXxx

But Matt did not return in a couple of hours like he promised. TK sat by the dock for hours, waiting for the swan boat to grace the horizon until it got dark, but it never came. That day turned into almost a week, and still no Matt. When he was hungry, TK would feast on some fruits and edible nuts that he would find in the forest but he didn't do much else; only watching the water. If there was ever a test to his hope, this was it.

As the days went on, it slowly dawned on TK that Matt was not coming like he promised. Nevertheless, he stayed at the dock watching the horizon, hoping and praying that he would see his brother's boat coming into the dock. It was one day that his hope finally ran out.

Tears streamed down TK's face as he finally admitted defeat. His brother had abandoned him like all the others had, and after he had promised to come back.

"He said he'd be back in a couple of hours," he sobbed loudly, the sound echoing through the entire lake area. He didn't care if anyone heard his cries. No one would be there to hear them anyway.

"Hey, what's all the cryin' about?" a nasally voice that sounded like Joe Pesci in ' _Goodfellas'_ entered the area.

Through his tears, TK looked up to see a diminutive bat Digimon that looked like a bowling ball with wings flying over to him. The top half of its body was blue with a familiar skull mark on its forehead and the bottom was black. Big yellow eyes studied the young boy with a kind look, though TK couldn't help but sense something off about his sincerity.

"DemiDevimon's the name," said the bat. "Mind if I drop in? You look like you need a friend, little guy."

" _Don't trust this Digimon, TK,"_ Patamon warned the boy through their Force connection. _"He's trying to manipulate you."_

But TK ignored the warning due to his hyperemotional state.

"Have you seen my brother out there?" he asked. "He's in a boat."

"Ah, is that what's got you down, squirt?" DemiDevimon said, trying to hide the wicked grin that threatened to curl up his lips. "Well leave it to me. What's your brother's name?"

"His name's Matt."

"Got it. Let me see what I can do. Back in a flash."

DemiDevimon then flew away with his little wings flapping against the wind. TK sat cross-legged on the dock as he waited for the bat to return. Hopefully he could get an explanation for why Matt had been gone for almost two months and not bothered to return. He missed him.

A few minutes later, DemiDevimon returned, but the look on his face didn't give TK an indication that the news would be good.

"Sorry to keep ya waitin'."

"Where's Matt? Did you find him?" the boy asked hopefully.

"Oh I found him all right," the bat smirked.

"Is he coming back?"

"That's the bad news, kid. Your bro ain't comin' back."

Those words floored TK like a giant wave on the ocean.

"What?" he weakly replied, tears beginning to well up once again.

Sensing that he had the boy right where he wanted him, DemiDevimon pressed the attack even further to completely crush him.

"In fact, he told me that he never wanted to see you again, something about not wanting to babysit a crybaby anymore. He called you some other things too, but I don't wanna repeat it."

It worked. TK burst into tears, his cries echoing loudly across the shore as he ran away from the dock and the amusement park to a secluded part of the lake.

"Well I hate him too!" the boy cried.

' _Damn, I'm good,'_ the bat celebrated his victory. _'Now I just need to keep him here and make sure no one comes looking for him. Lord Myotismon will be so proud of me. I'll make this brat pay for killing me the first time.'_

As the sun began to set, TK skipped stones across the lake. DemiDevimon's words echoed in his mind as he watched the stones skip once before sinking beneath the water. He should have known that Matt only looked after him to please their mother rather than actually caring for him as his brother.

' _Well I don't need anybody,'_ the young boy fumed. _'If that's the way they feel about me, then they all can kiss my butt. I don't care about any of them either.'_

He took his lightsaber from his waist and stared at it for several minutes. With this blade, he killed Devimon and saved everyone, but it was also Devimon's defeat that sent Tai away. It was all because of him that these events happened.

"I don't need this stupid thing anymore," he growled.

His grip tightened on the saber before he tossed it away without looking to see where it landed. He then ran back to the amusement park to have fun, not caring about where Matt was.

He was dead to TK.

* * *

"And that's what happened since you've been gone," said TK as he finished his tale.

Tai was in shock over what the boy told him. Not only had it been almost three months since he had disappeared, but everyone had gone their separate ways. He knew that they needed to find everyone as soon as possible before this evil that Gennai told him made its move.

"Whoa," he said. "When you go away for a couple of hours, a lot can happen. That doesn't matter now, what matters is that we need to find the others."

"Not me," TK grumbled, turning away from the older boy. "Why should I help find them? They're not nice. They left me behind. First Sora, then the others, and then Matt abandoned me too."

"It's not your fault they left, little buddy," Tai replied, trying to calm him down. "Don't worry about it."

"They hate me! They think I'm a crybaby. Even Matt said I was."

"Hold on just a minute. I don't know what this DemiDevimon has been telling you, but I know for a fact that Matt does not hate you. Quite the opposite."

"You wouldn't be saying such nice things about him if you knew that he didn't want to keep searching for you. He's really jealous of you, Tai. He hates it when you and I do things together and he's always angry when I talk about you."

TK looked at Tai with pleading eyes as he hugged his legs tightly. "Do you think I could be your little brother instead? Please!"

Tai didn't know how to handle this. He knew that TK just needed a friend at the moment and would probably come to regret what he said later, but he didn't know what to tell the little guy. He and Kari never had arguments this bad before and if they did, they were quick to make up.

"I…don't think it works that way, kiddo," he finally said.

Those were words TK did not want to hear.

"Why not?"

"It just doesn't."

"Ah, you hate me too! Is that it?"

* * *

DemiDevimon circled the forest from above the tree line, muttering angrily to himself as his eyes scanned the forest floor. It had been two days since he popped onto the scene and TK was becoming a real drag to the bat. He tried getting the boy's mind off of the other Destined Jedi by getting him onto rides and such, but TK didn't show a smidgeon of excitement.

' _If my plan is going to work, he needs to forget them somehow,'_ he thought as he continued flying.

After a few more revolutions around the forest, DemiDevimon found what he was looking for on the ground. His eyes widened when he saw a patch of mushrooms in a clearing.

"Ah ha!" he cried, a wicked smile stretching up his face as he flew down to the ground. "The famous Mushrooms of Forgetfulness. A few of these and the kid will forget all about those friends of his."

* * *

"So I'll be your big brother, but just temporarily until we find Matt," Tai said to TK.

"Ok," the boy nodded.

Tai then sensed an unfamiliar presence. He looked up to see a bowling ball with wings making its way towards the two of them with a basket full of mushrooms in its clawed feet. The wicked grin on its face greatly unsettled him, telling him that this was not someone to trust right away.

"That's DemiDevimon, Tai," TK informed him.

"Sure doesn't look like a trustworthy fellow," he said as the bat put the basket of mushrooms down in front of them.

"Well, nice to see you again, TK," DemiDevimon greeted with a pleasant smile. He then noticed the taller human standing next to him. "Hey, who's this?"

"I'm a friend of TK's," Tai replied aggressively. "A real friend. Now what did Matt really say to you?"

"Cool it, buddy," said the diminutive bat. "I don't know what you're talkin' about."

"Don't play me for a fool! I want the truth right now, you little pipsqueak!"

A nerve snapped in DemiDevimon's head upon being called a pipsqueak. He was used to the short jokes, but he never took them lying down.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LOUSY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK?!" he shouted in Tai's face before settling down. "It's the truth, I swear. Matt told me that he was sick and tired of babysitting a crybaby like TK, so he was never coming back for him. I told him that brothers should stick together, but he wouldn't listen."

"Then you wouldn't mind taking us to see Matt and have him tell us himself, now would you?" Tai pressed, activating his lightsaber to back up his threat. "Or do we need to do this the hard way?"

"Whoa! Whoa! Put that thing down!" DemiDevimon cried, backing away from the blue-colored blade. "You're gonna take someone's eye out with that."

"No, just yours if you don't cooperate. Now take us to Matt this instant."

"Alright, alright, alright," replied the bat, a smirk once again playing on his face. "But first, how's about something to eat? It's a long way to where Matt is after all. I went and picked these mushrooms for you, fresh and juicy. On the house."

Come to think of it, Tai realized at that moment how hungry he was. Spending three days trying to find everyone with hardly any food or rest was really starting to take its toll on him. Those mushrooms did sound good right now.

"I guess we can eat something," he conceded, deactivating his lightsaber. TK nodded in agreement as well.

"Good, have at it," DemiDevimon said, turning away from the two to grin wickedly. If he could get the both of them to eat the mushrooms, then they would lose their memories and forget about the others. It was the perfect plan.

They found a makeshift grill to cook the mushrooms so that they could have extra flavor compared to leaving them raw. Tai hated raw mushrooms, so it made sense to cook them. After a few minutes, they looked ready to eat.

' _That's it,'_ DemiDevimon thought as he watched. _'Just one little bite and all your memories will be gonzo.'_

Before he could bite into the fungus, a voice that was too feminine to be Agumon warned Tai, " _Don't eat that! Those are the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness. You'll lose all your memories if you eat them."_

"Hey, hold on a minute," he said, getting a bad feeling all of a sudden from the mushrooms. He quickly took TK's mushroom out of his mouth before he could start chewing it. "Why aren't _you_ having any?"

DemiDevimon's face fell in disbelief. Had he been discovered?

"I didn't want to be a rude host, so I'm letting you guys have the first bite," the bat replied defensively.

Tai cocked an eyebrow, not liking the tone of his voice. It sounded awfully suspicious, like he didn't want to have a bite of one.

"Well, then I insist!" he retorted, throwing a mushroom in DemiDevimon's direction. The morsel bounced off his face before falling harmlessly to the ground.

"Ah ha! That just proves it. You were going to poison us with bad mushrooms!"

"You lying rat!" TK shouted, pointing an accusatory finger.

DemiDevimon growled in frustration. His plan was foiled, and all because some dumb kid noticed that he wasn't eating a mushroom. These Destined Jedi were more clever than he thought.

"Why you! I oughta…"

Tai immediately activated his lightsaber, slashing the air in front of the diminutive bat to get him to stay back.

"Hey, TK," he said, tossing the boy's lightsaber to him. "I think you're gonna need this back."

TK accepted the lightsaber with a confident smile, activating it before joining the brunette leader.

DemiDevimon dodged slash after slash, not wanting to get caught by one now that he was contending with two lightsabers. He was tired of dodging and decided to finally attack for a change.

"Demi Dart!" he cried, a syringe popping out from thin air before throwing it towards the two of them.

Tai and TK both used the Force to stop the syringe's momentum, then turning it around and sending it right back towards DemiDevimon. The diminutive bat was so surprised by the attack that he couldn't move out of the way in time. The syringe sank into his behind, rendering him paralyzed.

"Ready, TK?" Tai smiled.

"You bet," the boy replied.

The two just held DemiDevimon in mid-air. The bat was begging and pleading for mercy, but his cries fell on deaf ears. Silently counting down from three, the two Jedi tossed him far away, eventually falling into the lake.

"Sure glad we're rid of him for now," said Tai after the two took a moment to celebrate their victory. "Let's get out of here and go find the others."

"I'm right behind you, Tai," TK nodded with a confident smile. "Let's go find my brother and my friends."

"I'm with you there, little guy."

' _Sora, wherever you are, thank you,'_ he called out through the Force before he and TK began their trek away from the amusement park.

* * *

DemiDevimon heaved as he gasped for air while lying on the lake shore. After he hit the water, it took a good few seconds for the effects of his Demi Dart to wear off so he could swim.

' _Lord Myotismon is not going to like this,'_ he thought as he mourned over the fact he was unable to stop TK from reuniting with anyone.

Sure enough, a bright red light appeared in front of the diminutive bat. He was so scared that he thought he'd wet himself as a dark shadow began to take form within the light.

"Master…" he gasped, trying to get a word in edgewise, but Myotismon beat him to it.

"You fail me yet again, DemiDevimon!" he roared, the sound booming like thunder. "Now that the little one has reunited with the brown-haired one, it is only a matter of time before they find all the others."

"I'm sorry, your lordship," the bat apologized, groveling for forgiveness knowing the consequences for failure. "It won't happen again."

"Well, see that it doesn't."

Soon, the only sounds that could be heard were the static of Force lightning and DemiDevimon's cries of agony echoing across the lake.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Now that TK is back in the fold, we will see where everyone else ran off to. That DemiDevimon, he's someone you just want to punch dead in the face. Tune in next week for more Destined Jedi. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you read along, they really help. See you all next week.**


	19. Hell's Kitchen

**Reviews:**

 **honter11: Well, I'm not sure about a chaptered story because I'm busy enough with those as it is. But I can certainly do something for you.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Oh yeah. It was pretty freaky when I would watch videos on Nara Dreamland and show how dilapidated it was. Thankfully they finally tore it down recently.**

 **Music Chick: Almost felt sorry for him? XD You must have more sympathy for the devil than I do. We will see what happens now that Tai is back.**

 **I also want to thank retro mania for the favorite/follow. I'm now going to give you a shout out every time you favorite and follow, as well as review.**

* * *

 **Welcome to chapter 19, everyone. Hope you are well and ready to enjoy this next chapter.**

* * *

' _How did I get myself into this mess?'_ Matt thought as yet another pile of china crashed to the floor behind him. His fist shook as he clenched it tightly to try and keep himself from lashing out.

"Sorry," Joe apologized behind him. "That was my fault."

' _Yeah, that's what you've said a million times already.'_

"It's all right," he said, trying to keep his voice as level as possible but he was sure Joe could feel the frustration in it. "Don't worry about it, buddy."

Matt moved the rice around in the giant pan on the stove in front of him, trying to focus on the dish. If only he could just use the Force to help make the job easier, then he and Joe wouldn't be stuck in this predicament, but they couldn't. It made things harder, especially for Joe because he wasn't used to manual labor back at home.

"Let's go, you idiots!" a loud voice screamed into the kitchen. "We've got customers waiting! I'm not paying you both to lollygag all day!"

"You hardly pay us at all, you Nazi slave driver," Matt muttered under his breath, thankfully concealed by the sound of the rice frying.

* * *

To think that it had been two months already, and he and Joe were not any closer to leaving than they were the day he arrived.

After he left TK at the amusement park to explore the lake area, Matt reached the other side of the lake after peddling the boat for a couple of hours. Disembarking from his transport, he looked around to see if Tai could be somewhere nearby.

' _Where are you? We need you, buddy. More than ever.'_

As he looked around, he caught sight of three Digimon walking along the ridge. One of them looked to be a giant stuffed bear, another a giant chicken, and the other was a snowman-looking Digimon. Matt thought that maybe he should follow where they were going, just on the slight chance that Tai could be there.

Quietly tailing them, Matt followed them to what looked to be an old-school American diner like that he had seen in pictures. The building was two stories with the restaurant on the bottom. Matt assumed that the top floor was an apartment of some sorts.

' _A bite to eat really sounds good now,'_ he thought.

A familiar presence made itself known to him at that moment, coming from the back of the restaurant. Could it be Tai?

Without another moment to lose, Matt went around to the back and shoved the kitchen door open with the speed of a snakebite. A small scream followed by something spilling went through the kitchen once he entered.

The blonde's face fell when he saw who it was.

"Joe?" he said, disappointed that he wasn't Tai.

"Matt, you scared me!" Joe chastised. The blue-haired boy had a large stain on the front of his vest from the surprise of Matt's entrance. "Please don't do that."

"I'm sorry," Matt apologized, hanging his head. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going off to find any other humans on your own."

"Well, I was, but I kinda got sidetracked."

"Sidetracked? What do you mean by sidetracked?"

Joe rubbed the back of his neck nervously. It had been a long, stressful day for him so far that it felt good to have a distraction. He was too overworked. Now he knew what it was like for restaurant workers back home.

"Well, it all started when I left you guys," he explained. "I wasn't lost, but I didn't know where I was. That's when I came across this thing that looked like a bowling ball with wings. It offered to help me find you guys, so I accepted his offer and followed him here. I thought for sure he was leading me the wrong way, but who was I to question him? I didn't exactly know my way around, and I wasn't sensing anything familiar."

"Did this bowling ball with wings have a name?" asked Matt, finding this strangely suspicious.

"I never asked," Joe replied, shaking his head. "Anyway, I soon found myself here, which was good because I was starving. The food here was really good, so having been re-energized, I was ready to go back out. But when I went to pay, Vegiemon, the manager, wouldn't accept the yen. Apparently, this restaurant only accepts US dollars, which I obviously didn't have."

"And now he's making you cook to pay it off, right?" Matt quickly deduced.

Joe nodded sadly. "That's right. When I'm not doing other things like washing dishes and scrubbing toilets that is. The worst part is I'm not allowed to use my Force powers to help me."

"You're in some deep shit now, Joe."

"I guess you can say that, even though I don't appreciate the bad language."

The door to the kitchen banged against the wall as it opened, followed by a loud voice that reminded Matt of a drill sergeant.

"Hey! What's going on here?" a yellow vegetable-looking Digimon roared at Joe. On its head, it had a Native American-like headdress. "I'm not getting any richer with you chit-chatting here!"

Joe jumped slightly and fell to the ground from fright. He quickly pulled himself back up before he could get yelled at any further.

"What? You want me to say 'pretty please?'" it yelled, its voice getting louder in tone. "Dish out that stew! Now!"

"Y-yes, sir," said Joe as he nervously scooped the stew out of the pot and into a bowl before presenting it to the vegetable.

It took one bite from it before smashing the bowl against the cabinets, spilling the contents on the floor.

"Disgusting! I can't serve this shit to my customers! Now you'll work an extra day for the ingredients you wasted!"

Joe's face fell. "Another day?"

"On top of how long, Joe?" said Matt, finally feeling the need to make himself known to the vegetable.

"At first, it was only supposed to be for three days, but I kept making mistakes. Now I'm up to over six weeks."

"And you still owe me for the wasted food, not to mention the broken dishes!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Adolf, calm down," Matt finally confronted him. "Surely we can work something out here."

"Who the heck are you?" Vegiemon glared threateningly.

"I'm a friend of Joe's."

"Well good for you. This is none of your business."

Matt could already tell that this Vegiemon was going to be one tough nut to crack. Maybe he could find a way to "convince" him to let Joe go.

With a wave of his hand, he said, "You will let him go."

Vegiemon looked at him like he was insane. "No I won't."

Matt was undaunted, so he tried again.

"You _will_ let him go."

"No, I won't! What, do you think you're a Destined Jedi or something, waving your hand around like that? Mind tricks don't work on me, kid. Only money."

"What's all the commotion about in here? The customers are complaining."

Everyone turned to see a giant egg with legs sticking out of the bottom, like whatever was inside tried to hatch itself free of its confines but only managed to get its legs out. There was a hole opened for its eyes, which glowed yellow like a Jawa. The way it spoke reminded both boys of Peter Lorre.

"Excuse me, are you the owner of this restaurant?" asked Matt.

"Yes," said the egg. "Digitamamon's the name."

"Great. My friend here has been working to pay off one lousy meal," Matt explained. "Can't he go?"

Digitamamon immediately shook his shell. "No way! This guy's not going anywhere. But if you stay and work with him, then maybe he can pay it faster."

Matt scoffed. "Me?"

"If you won't help, then get out," Digitamamon left the kitchen and headed for the upstairs apartment. "You're of no use to me."

Vegiemon left the kitchen to handle the customers outside, leaving the two boys with some precious time to breathe.

Matt had one foot out the door, freedom beckoning to him, but he didn't move. He continued to look back at Joe. He couldn't leave him here to toil alone, but he needed to go back and get TK from the amusement park. The little guy must be thinking he'd abandoned him.

"So what do we do now?" Joe asked in complete despair.

"I'm going to go get TK," said the blonde-haired boy. "After that, we'll come back and help you pay off your debt."

Joe's face brightened instantly. "Really, Matt? You mean it?"

Matt nodded. "Yes. That's what friends do, Joe. When things are tough, they're always there for each other."

Joe was so moved by Matt's declaration of friendship that he had to wipe away tears that were pooling under his eyes. Like Matt, he too never had a lot of people he could truly call friends when he was growing up. He had "friends" in cram school, but in the end they were rivals competing for spots in the top private schools in Tokyo.

"I'll always remember this, Matt."

"Don't get all mushy with me, Joe," Matt rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the smile that threatened to grow on his lips. "I'll be back."

* * *

When Digitamamon opened the door to his upstairs apartment, he did not expect DemiDevimon to be perched on the table with a small plot of money right next to him. It easily had to be $1,500, if not more.

"What is Master Myotismon's bidding?" he asked the diminutive bat with a creepy laugh, excited about what was coming.

"The new boy, the blonde, make sure he doesn't leave," DemiDevimon ordered. "Since he's the Jedi of Friendship, we have to break his friendship with that other brat you have working for you. I'm already working on the others. We're going to make sure that the other kid keeps screwing up so much that the blonde's anger reaches the point that he can't stand him anymore."

Digitamamon nodded. "Understood. This is going to be delicious."

* * *

Matt piled the collection of fruits onto the boat; bananas, kiwis, apples, and other juicy morsels that looked like a rainbow collection. He figured that TK would be pretty hungry by the time he got back, so he wanted to bring enough food to last the both of them for a bit until they came back to help Joe.

' _The poor little guy,'_ he thought as he moved to the other side to climb into the boat. _'He's probably worried about me right now, and he's all by himself.'_

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" Digitamamon called after him, halting his progress. "You're not finished yet. I checked the schedule."

"What schedule?" Matt retorted, a confused look on his face.

"The _work_ schedule, stupid! Now get inside and start cooking or you're fired!"

"I quit."

"You can't quit! I say you stay!"

' _Jeez, what's this guy's problem?'_ Matt rolled his eyes before replying, "What's the big deal, egg head? I'm coming right back. Besides, you've already got a slave working for you."

If Digitamamon's mouth were visible, it would be curved into a smirk. If that's the way Matt was going to be, then he'd have to strike hard.

"Oh, I see," he said. "Then I guess you don't care about what happens to your friend while you're gone. Selfish, aren't we?"

"What are you talking about?" Matt asked, not liking the direction that the egg was taking this.

"I'm just saying that while you're gone, there's no telling what might happen to your little friend," the egg cackled with sadistic pleasure as he said, "So many accidents can happen in the kitchen, you know."

Matt activated his lightsaber, sensing the veiled threat that Digitamamon made.

"Is that a threat?" he growled.

Digitamamon was unfazed by Matt's attempt at intimidation. He had him right where he wanted him.

"It's whatever you want it to mean," said the egg. "But if you stay, then nothing will happen to your friend."

Matt was torn. On the one hand, he wanted to go back and get TK like he planned, but the other side was telling him to stay to protect Joe from anything Digitamamon or Vegiemon would try to do. His brother was important, but his friends were just as important. Oh, this whole thing was giving him a headache.

He deactivated his lightsaber, having made his decision.

"Alright, fine," he said. "I'll play your game."

"I knew you'd see things my way," Digitamamon smirked. "Now get to work!"

' _I'm sorry, TK. Forgive me for doing this. Hold on just a little longer, buddy.'_

* * *

Once he got back, Matt went straight to work as orders came flying in. He was silent the entire time as he fried rice in a pan, Digitamamon's threat against Joe echoing in his mind. He knew that the egg was implying he would harm Joe if he went away, so he couldn't let that happen. No telling what it would do to him.

' _I can't leave him. If I'm not around, who knows what that psychopathic egg would do to him, along with Vegiemon.'_

He was focused so much on frying the rice that he ignored Joe's attempts at talking to him. The bespectacled boy could feel the conflict within the blonde-haired boy, so he tried to engage in conversation to try and lighten things up.

"Matt, you there? Hello," Joe called. "Earth to Matt. Weren't you going to get TK? If you want, you can just go ahead and…"

"I DECIDED NOT TO GO!" Matt snapped angrily, interrupting Joe's offer. "So shut up and leave me alone."

Joe's face fell as he backed away from him, not expecting Matt to snap like that. Something was definitely bothering him.

"Jeez, sorry if I upset you," he apologized.

Matt immediately felt remorseful for biting the older boy's head off just for trying to help him. It was uncalled for, and he didn't deserve it.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he said, pouring the rice onto a plate before turning to Joe with a small smile. "I was just thinking about something. That doesn't matter now. We've got a job to do, partner. I'm a real good cook, so you're in good hands with me. We can do this together and get out of here in no time."

Joe tried to smile to feed off of Matt's confidence, but it was still shaky.

"All right," he nodded slowly. "I guess that sounds like a plan. We can do this."

"You said it!"

* * *

 _Two months later_

' _I swear, one more screw up and I am ready to kill him!'_ Matt thought as he heard Joe once again drop another platter of food in the dining room, followed by yet another reprimanding from Vegiemon. Ten more days were tacked on to their already insurmountable term of indentured servitude.

The sound of dishes breaking rang in his ears constantly due to how much it happened on a regular basis. They were supposed to cut down the six weeks with the two of them working together, but now it ballooned to six months due to the amount of broken dishes and other screw-ups that Vegiemon called them on.

"Man, I am just losing it today," said the blue-haired boy as he came into the kitchen, his entire body shaking from the telling off. "I don't understand why I'm so accident-prone. Ok, so maybe balancing plates on a platter isn't one of my strong suits, but now it seems worse than ever."

' _Jeez, man. Would you shut up?'_

Matt tried to focus on stirring the soup before he did something he would end up regretting, but it was getting harder with each second. He could only keep his patience so much until it snapped.

Yet another crash behind him jolted him from his concentration.

"Sorry," Joe apologized as the platter of food he held in his hands lay in ruins on the floor. "Yup. I snapped."

Matt's fist shook as he emptied all the negative emotions into it rather than breathing fire from his mouth.

' _Half of what I make ends up on the floor, and the other half is on his clothes. This job is giving me a killer headache right now. Tell me that this is all a bad dream.'_

With the utmost restraint, he said, "It's ok. Don't worry about it, pal. Let's just move on to the next one."

"O….kay," Joe replied, sensing the storm cloud hanging over Matt.

"I'll be right back. I need to take some Tylenol. When the timer goes off, pour that soup into a bowl."

Matt then left the kitchen to get some fresh air outside. He walked a few paces away from the diner to make sure that he couldn't be heard from the kitchen. He needed to let off some steam before going back in or else he was really going to let Joe have it.

With a deep breath, Matt unleashed the loudest scream that he could muster to let out all the frustration and negative emotions that were running through his system at that moment. He then activated his lightsaber and started swinging away at nearby trees, cursing Joe as he did so. He cut through branches as though they were butter, even cutting through the base of a tree to send it tumbling with a loud boom that echoed across the lake area.

"GODDAMN IT!" he raged after cutting through another branch.

After a few minutes of letting out all of his pent-up frustration, Matt took a moment to catch his breath before returning to the kitchen to finish up his shift. The rest of the night went on without any substantial problems, which he was thankful for because he was about to go insane.

* * *

Even the soft quiet of the night could not settle Matt down as he sat near the swan boat and meditated for a little while. He was currently consulting with Gabumon on what to do with this quagmire being presented to him.

" _What do I do, Gabumon?"_ he asked telepathically. _"I am at the end of my ropes with this job. Poor TK, he must think I've abandoned him by now."_

" _Exercise patience, my friend,"_ the wolf Digimon replied. _"That's all you can really do now."_

That was an answer that Matt did not want to hear.

" _You're my guardian, aren't you? You're supposed to help me whenever I need help!"_

" _I'm sorry, Matt, but even I am limited in what I can do to help you. I can't just magically make the debt disappear. You are going to have to do this on your own. Control your emotions."_

The blonde-haired boy took several deep breaths to erase the anger that was still radiating from his body like a warning to stay away. It seemed that someone or some _thing_ did not get the message because Matt could feel someone approaching him.

"Having a problem there, my good man?" a voice that reminded Matt of Joe Pesci said to him.

He opened his eyes to see a diminutive bat looking at him with concerned eyes. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

"What's it to you?" he bitterly replied.

"I can see it on your face," the bat replied. "I may be a bat, but I can certainly tell when there's a problem and you have one."

Matt visibly relaxed as he settled into this conversation, though something in the back of his mind told him to be on his guard around this Digimon.

"How did you know?"

"I know things, and I can sense the struggle within yourself. You want to go and get your little brother but you are also committed to helping your friend pay off his debt. Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions," DemiDevimon said in a mocking voice, a smirk playing on his lips. "What to do, what to do. This is just between us, but I think your friend is making those mistakes on purpose."

Matt's eyes widened in surprise. Surely Joe wouldn't do that. Would he?

"He wouldn't do something like that. I don't know what you're talking about," he turned away.

"It's all just so you won't leave him alone. He's taking advantage of having you around, figuring that if he's going to be miserable then you should be miserable along with him."

"No way!"

DemiDevimon gave a 'hmph' in retaliation. He could sense that the seeds of doubt had already been planted in the boy's head, so he should take his leave while he could.

"You're a nice guy," he said as he flew away with a cry of, "But remember, nice guys end up washing dishes for the rest of their lives."

Matt reflected on the diminutive bat's words. Was it possible that Joe was screwing up on purpose, all so he wouldn't leave him? If he weren't making these mistakes, then the two of them would have been free a month ago easily, that much he knew. This was all making his head hurt even worse than before.

* * *

The next day, the restaurant was nearing capacity with all sorts of Digimon who were hungry for a good lunch. But back in the kitchen, things were not going as planned.

"Please! I promise I will come back as soon as I get my little brother," Matt pleaded to Digitamamon. "I'm not asking for much here. This is very important."

"Oh, I can't do that," Digitamamon shook his shell. "We're overflowing with customers right now. It would be impractical for you to go now."

Matt grinded his teeth in frustration. This was getting more and more aggravating by the second. It wasn't like he was making an unreasonable request, like defaulting their debt or a raise in pay, but Digitamamon sure made it seem like it was.

Behind him, Joe let out a surprised yelp, followed by the sound of broken dishes. A pile of shattered ceramics littered the floor with pieces scattered across the walkway.

"Not more plates!" Digitamamon shrieked. "That's another week for the both of you!"

"Another week? I can't stay another week. I have places to go."

"Well too bad. You'll stay, and no tips!"

Matt finally had enough. He turned to the source of all his pent-up frustration with daggers in his eyes.

"Joe, why do you keep doing this?" he demanded, anger slowly rising his voice.

"Do you think I'm doing this on purpose?" Joe retorted, trying to prove his innocence but he could see it wasn't making a difference with Matt. "Do you think I'm juggling dishes as I wash them? Something tripped me, I swear."

"Quit making up excuses!"

"I'm not!"

Next thing Joe knew, he found himself landing on his butt. Thankfully for him, he didn't fall on any pieces of plates, but the shock of Matt shoving him was enough to wound him internally.

"You've gotta believe me, Matt," he said weakly, tears beginning to pool in his eyes as Matt stormed out of the kitchen.

He knew that their friendship was, as of this moment, shattered like the plates on the floor. It would take a miracle to rebuild it.

* * *

Tai and TK came across a restaurant after traveling along the lakeshore for the past day and a half. The older boy sensed two familiar Force energies within the restaurant, which gave him hope that they had found two more of their friends.

"Let's go, TK. I'm picking something up."

"Do you think it's my brother?" TK asked as he tried to keep up with Tai while they ran.

"It could be. Come on."

The two barged into the restaurant, which was now deserted. They were the only ones in the dining room, so they took the search to the kitchen, where they found Joe.

"Joe!" Both boys exclaimed, happy to see their friend.

Joe nearly dropped the bowl he was holding in complete shock. Not only was TK here, but Tai was too. After months of slaving and searching for him, there he was standing right in front of him. It all seemed too good to be true.

"Tai?" he said, tears of joy filling his eyes as his breath became short due to the shock. "Is that really you?"

"Yeah it's me," Tai nodded with a smile. "I'm alright."

Joe tried in vain to wipe away the tears that threatened to spill down his cheeks. He was so happy at that not only was his friend back, but it also meant reinforcements to help him escape from under this debt.

He tackled Tai into a hug, sobbing as he buried his face into the boy's shoulder. The goggle-headed boy merely rubbed his back as he continued to release all of his emotions from the past two months of hell.

"It's all right, Joe," he said as he let Joe cry on his shoulder. "You're safe now." Once he pulled away, Tai asked, "How did you get here?"

Before Joe could answer, TK jumped into the conversation.

"Is Matt here, Joe?"

The mention of Matt caused Joe's face to fall. "Yeah, he's out back," he replied sadly.

A wide smile crossed TK's face as he ran outside to find the older blonde, leaving the two boys alone.

Tai was the first to speak. "So what are you doing here, pal?"

Joe sighed as he replied, "It's a long story."

* * *

Meanwhile, as Joe explained to Tai what they had been doing for the last two months, Matt laid on the grass to try and calm his mind after what happened earlier. Maybe he was wrong for shoving Joe to the ground out of anger like that, but he was too frustrated for rational thought right now.

' _That double-crossing little schemer,'_ he thought with a slight frown, watching the clouds above. _'I don't need him anymore. I'm better off without him. He's the reason why I can't go back and get TK. The poor guy must be devastated right now.'_

Just as he thought that, a shadow blotted out the sun on his face.

"Hi ya, Matt," TK greeted happily, wrapping his arms around his brother's neck. "I thought I'd never see you again."

Matt was so surprised by the boy's appearance that it took a second for him to realize he wasn't dreaming.

"Hey, kid," he replied, patting him on the shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"Good to see ya, Matt," said the goggle-headed leader behind them. "Looks like something weird has been going on here."

"Tai!" Matt's mouth hung open. Was it really him? It had to be, for Tai was standing right in front of him flashing that famous smile of his. His own lips curved into a smile.

"Good to see you too, dude!" The two shared a fist bump. "I guess you can kinda say we got ourselves into some hot water."

Tai chuckled at the cooking joke. Matt then turned back to TK, hugging him tightly.

"I'm so sorry I didn't come back and get you, little buddy," he apologized.

"Aw, that's alright, Matt," TK replied, shrugging it off like it was nothing. "We're together now and that's all that matters."

' _Thank God you are so forgiving, TK,'_ Matt thought as he broke away from the embrace. TK always was a forgiving person and tended to let things go quite easily, even if Matt didn't deserve to be forgiven at that moment.

"All right, now that that's settled, let's get out of here," said Tai.

"You mean run away?" Joe asked.

"Of course I mean run away. I don't see any guards around here, so we can just head on out and dare them to try and catch us."

But Matt turned away with a huff. He was still angry with Joe over what happened earlier and didn't want to be anywhere near him for the time being.

"I don't want to leave," he said, earning a collective gasp from the other boys. "I'll leave when I'm ready. Anyway, I'm not going anywhere with Joe."

"Matt, don't be stupid," Tai retorted, not liking Matt's prima donna attitude at the moment. "We have got to get out of here while we have the chance."

"Why should I? Joe doesn't want to work together. He only cares about himself."

Joe, refusing to take this slander lying down, decided to finally stand up for himself.

"That's not true and you know it, Matt," he spat. "You didn't have to stay and help me, but you did! I told you to go get TK and leave me behind if you wanted, but you refused. I always took it to mean you thought of me as your friend and that you didn't want me to drown on my own."

"Well, you thought wrong!" Matt spat back, his anger reaching a boiling point to where something bad was going to happen. "Why would I want to be friends with someone who deliberately wrecks everything to keep me here cooking rice forever?"

"Matt, hold on a minute," Joe continued, his index finger raised threateningly.

The raging inferno inside of Matt then broke loose as he raised his hand and roared, "SHUT UP!"

Joe instantly felt like he was being choked as he clutched his throat with both hands, gagging as his air supply started to get cut off. Matt was staring daggers into him as Joe began to float two inches off the ground. The fire in his blue eyes was almost visible as his hand clenched tightly like it was wrapped around Joe's neck.

Tai and TK watched in horror. Never did they expect Matt to do something like this to a friend. His emotions had finally won out for a change.

"Let him go, Matt!" Tai ordered forcefully, but Matt's blood pumping through his ears left him unable to hear. His eyes were fixed squarely on his target.

"Matt…" Joe choked out. "Please."

"LET. HIM. GO!"

Matt finally conceded and halted the attack, sending Joe back to the ground. The bespectacled boy took a big gasp of air before coughing to try and get his air back. He stared at Matt with shocked eyes as he heaved to take a deep breath.

"Matt, why did you do that?" TK asked, hesitating for a moment in fear of upsetting his brother even further.

"DON'T BUG ME, TK!" his brother growled, shocking the young boy even more. His voice then returned to a normal tone. "Just come with me. Let's get out of here."

"Well, well, well," came Digitamamon's voice, having heard the commotion outside. "You weren't planning on running away now, were you? That would make me very angry."

"Yes, that would be a very bad idea."

Everybody looked up into the tree behind them to see DemiDevimon sneering down at them while perched on a branch.

"It's you again!" Tai's eyes narrowed in irritation.

"DemiDevimon," said TK, just as surprised to see the diminutive bat.

Matt and Joe gasped in surprise, for they recognized him as well.

"You lied!" Matt yelled, his anger now directed towards DemiDevimon. "Because of you, I almost killed Joe."

"And you lied to get me to come here," Joe added. "You're also the one who wrecked everything to make sure we stayed forever."

DemiDevimon chuckled. "You're very perceptive for a couple of twerps," he said. "I would have succeeded too if it weren't for your little friends showing up."

Tai gritted his teeth, grinding them together almost painfully. He was ready to teach this little pest a lesson, just like he and TK did last time.

His lightsaber hummed as he activated it, immediately rushing toward the bat. DemiDevimon took it as a sign to run away, which he did, with Tai right on his heels.

"Come back here, you little runt!" he cried.

"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

These events only served to enrage Digitamamon even more, and the growling noises coming from him did not make Matt and the others feel good about what was to come.

"How dishonest," the egg said. "Trying to leave without paying me."

"You're a thief!" Matt returned, activating his green lightsaber. "We've worked here long enough to pay that debt ten times already. Let us go!"

Digitamamon's shell grew larger until he was almost a foot taller than Matt.

"You're not going anywhere," he fumed. "If you want to leave, you'll have to defeat me first, Destined Jedi."

"Have at thee."

As Digitamamon began to charge, Matt sidestepped the oncoming attack and slashed his shell, creating a six inch gash across the side. This only made Digitamamon more angry as he body slammed into Matt, knocking him to the ground and scattering his lightsaber away.

"Matt!" TK cried. "Help me!"

The boy shook himself off to see Vegiemon dangling TK upside down above the ground by his leg while one arm held onto the roof.

"Either you give up the fight, or this little twerp gets it," Vegiemon sneered.

"Let him go now!" Matt roared, calling his lightsaber back to his hand and reactivating it. He pointed his blade at the vegetable threateningly.

"How nice," Digitamamon sneered. "Your little brother decided to _hang around_."

Before Matt could react, Digitamamon body slammed him once again. This time, Matt was knocked out cold against the wood of the wall.

Joe couldn't stand by and watch these events anymore. He had to do something. So, without thinking, he leapt up onto the roof without either Vegiemon or Digitamamon knowing and jumped down onto the vegetable. Due to the force of the human landing on him, Vegiemon let go of TK before the two hit the ground. Enraged by this turn of events, he wrapped his two long arms around Joe's torso and neck and began to strangle him.

"Oh no! Joe!" TK cried as Matt recovered.

"Matt…" Joe choked out as Vegiemon's grip grew tighter. "You were right. You said that we'd have to work together to get out of this, so now it's my turn. Get him."

"Shut up!" Vegiemon roared. "Tell your friend I'm a very short-tempered Digimon! I will not hesitate to kill you!"

Matt stood frozen in indecision. He wasn't sure what to do at that moment. For one thing, he couldn't believe that after all those mean things he said and Force choking him, that Joe would still risk his own life for TK. That was true dedication if he had ever seen any.

"Matt, we have to help him!" TK cried, activating his own lightsaber and trying to jump into the fight. Digitamamon blocked his path before he could do anything, however.

"I don't think so," the egg taunted with a sneer in his voice.

"Matt, get him now! Attack while you still can!" Joe cried, his face starting to turn blue as he neared asphyxiation.

' _I will not abandon him! I will never abandon my friends!'_ Matt resolved as his symbol began to glow even brighter than it ever had. The blue light soon overtook the entire area as he felt the energy of the other Jedi flooding into him. He had finally bonded with his lightsaber crystal.

Digitamamon and Vegiemon both shielded their eyes due to the brightness of the light. Because of this, Vegiemon had to relax his grip on Joe, giving the boy temporary relief for a moment. When it died down, Matt stood with his lightsaber activated and a determined look on his face.

"I will never give up," he roared. "Not so long as my friends are fighting along with me. Prepare to face the true power of the Jedi of Friendship!"

Before the two could do anything, Matt became a speeding blur as he moved around the entire area. Digitamamon couldn't lock him down to attack, so he just stood there until an agonized cry from Vegiemon alerted him.

Vegiemon's arms had been cut off, with Joe on one knee to gather his breath back after being nearly choked to death for the second time in less than ten minutes. Matt stood protectively over him as he Force pushed the maimed vegetable away.

"Now we finish this," he said, looking directly at Digitamamon.

"Your newfound speed does not scare me," the egg replied defiantly. "Nightmare Syndrome!"

An ink-like substance flew from the hole in his shell towards Matt, who simply disintegrated it with a slash of his lightsaber. The symbol on his arm glowed once again as he lifted the egg Digimon into the air. Digitamamon cried out in discomfort.

"Let me down! Can't we talk this over?"

"Sorry," Matt said with a smirk. "It's too late for that."

Pouring all of the energy he could into his hand, Matt unleashed the most powerful Force push he had ever done and sent Digitamamon flying far away, past the mountain looming in the distance.

"Time for me to get out of here!" he heard DemiDevimon cry as he and Tai came back to the restaurant. The diminutive bat flew away from sight as fast as his wings could carry him.

The boys cried out in victory.

"Yeah! We beat 'em!" Tai boasted happily before turning to Joe. "That was pretty awesome what you did there, Joe."

"Aw shucks," Joe blushed in embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "It was nothing. I did what anyone else would do."

Matt then approached the bespectacled boy, the guilt on his face obvious.

"Hey, Joe," he said. "I'm…really proud of you for how you handled that. I'm sorry I ever doubted you."

"It's fine, Matt. Don't worry about it."

"No, it's not fine. I shouldn't have treated you as badly as I did. You didn't deserve it. So are we cool?"

Joe nodded as the two bro-hugged. "We're cool."

Matt, in that moment, felt that he was truly strong enough to be the Jedi of Friendship after all.

* * *

DemiDevimon quaked in fear as he faced Myotismon to tell him of his failure.

"Master Myotismon, I failed again. The Jedi of Friendship has fully bonded with his lightsaber crystal and has unleashed greater power than we thought."

"WHAT?" Myotismon roared. He raised his hands up threateningly, which caused DemiDevimon to cower in anticipation for what he knew was coming. "Perhaps your brain is too small for this job. You will be punished for your failure."

"No, Master! Please! I-AAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"Man, so what happens here in the Digital World also has an effect on the real world too?" Matt asked as the four boys walked through the rock hills of the mountain range.

Tai nodded. "Yep. So we need to find the others fast and take care of business here. Only then will the real world be safe."

The group then came to a fork in the path. Tai sensed a familiar presence down one way, and another the other way.

"What is it, Tai?" asked TK.

"I sense two more of our friends," he replied. "The problem is that they are both down each of these paths, which means we might have to split up. Matt, you and TK take the left path while Joe and I go to the right."

"Just in case no one gets lost, let's plan to meet at the base of the mountain," suggested Joe, which earned a collective nod from the other boys.

"Good luck, and may the Force be with you guys," said Tai as they walked down their separate paths.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter because we got some pretty cool stuff there. I'm working on keeping my author's notes shorter than before, so prepare for that. I will be heading back to college for my senior year next week, so I will get this next chapter done on schedule, but after that I will do whatever I can to keep on my timetable with updates.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as you always do. See you guys next week.**


	20. The Inquisitive Heart

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Because you shouldn't be surprised XD. Glad to know I did a great job because I did want it to take a darker tone with Matt getting more and more frustrated until he finally snaps at Joe.**

 **Music Chick: Yes, poor Joe, but he was careless enough to put himself in that situation in the first place so Matt is understandably upset with him. With Matt unlocking greater powers, this is just the beginning.**

* * *

 **With this chapter, I have crossed the 100k word plateau for the very first time. I'm so excited! But this is only just the beginning. I leave you now to enjoy this great chapter I've put time into.**

* * *

The rocky terrain of the mountains was proving to be more treacherous with each passing step. Paths would become steeper without warning, rocks were always threatening to fall, and Izzy could not seem to figure out which way he was going.

For the past two months, Izzy had been searching for the way to Gennai's house, hoping that their mentor could help him locate where Tai was. Instead, he found himself wandering almost the entire continent of Server without any clear sense of direction. He was supposed to be the Jedi of Knowledge. Why couldn't he remember the way?

' _Oh great, Izzy,'_ the boy groaned as he sat down on a rock to let his feet rest. _'Now you've really gone and outdone yourself. Getting lost on the way to Gennai's, how embarrassing.'_

He could have simply used the Force to help him locate Gennai, but he couldn't get a clear lock on his energy and so was delegated to finding the way to the house. Even though it was inconvenient, he used the opportunity to learn as much about the Digital World as he possibly could. He observed wild Digimon, jotting down their natural behaviors and eating patterns, and some of the local plants and flowers. Anything that interested the boy, he would learn more about.

Izzy had such a never-ending thirst for knowledge that he would learn about even the most obscure and irrelevant things that no one else would care about knowing. Nothing was too complicated or unimportant to him.

After resting a few moments, Izzy got up from the rock and continued his quest to find Gennai. Unbeknownst to him, someone was watching with a mischievous glint in their eyes.

DemiDevimon stealthily watched from behind the boulders as Izzy continued up the mountain path, taking pictures of the boy with a small camera. A plan was slowly forming in his mind.

' _He's getting closer and closer to Vademon's realm,'_ the diminutive bat realized. _'If I can just get him down there, then he'll be ripe for the plucking. I will not fail Master Myotismon this time.'_

DemiDevimon shuddered with fear as he remembered the sensation of Force lightning coursing through his body. He had suffered at the hands of it one too many times, and enough was enough this time. He was going to succeed or die trying.

' _Er, forget the die part.'_

Coming from behind the boulder, he flew further down the path ahead of Izzy. Once he saw a sign laying behind a collection of large rocks, he put his plan into action. He buried the sign into the rocky ground as hard as he could, but eventually he must have reached the limit because it split into two parts as he tried to drive it further down.

DemiDevimon could hear through his extra-sensitive hearing that Izzy was getting closer and closer to that area, so he needed to work fast to get that sign upside right. He was scrambling so fast that he almost dropped the rope that he carried with him before tying the upper half to the lower half and then hiding as fast as he could. He exhaled as he saw Izzy come around the bend a split-second later.

' _Oh boy,'_ he giggled to himself as excitement surged through his tiny body. _'This is gonna be good.'_

Izzy was perplexed to see a sign in front of him. Not that signs were unusual on mountain tops, but this one was especially unique in what it said.

 _Beware of Falling Excrement._

Izzy couldn't tell whether this was a joke or if the person who made this sign was serious. The image of piles of excrement falling on top of him ran a shiver down his spine so he shook his head to get rid of it.

' _That would not be pleasant,'_ he thought as he gagged in disgust. _'Guess that rules out going this way.'_

He headed down another path, where yet another sign greeted him.

 _Beware of Bottomless Excrement Pit._

Another.

 _Beware of Attack Excrement._

That one Izzy had a hard time believing could happen, but he didn't want to take the chance nonetheless. He was surrounded on all sides by signs that warned him of some unpleasant form of waste, whether it be human or digital. There was nowhere to go.

Izzy's Force senses then picked up rumblings underneath his feet. The ground beneath him began to crack and cave in. Izzy tried to get away, but he was too late and fell right through the hole and into the abyss below.

"Ha! I got him!" DemiDevimon cried out, doing a little happy dance in celebration as his plan worked. "He doesn't stand a chance!"

* * *

Izzy screamed with terror as he continued falling through the darkness. He was surprised to see that he was not tumbling like a rock falling through a canyon to the ground below. Rather, it felt like he was descending slowly like he was in space.

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, Izzy tried to regain his thoughts.

' _Where does this thing end?'_ he wondered. _'I'm not sure if I want to know.'_

"You will fall into a very unpleasant place," a mysterious voice echoed throughout the pit. It sounded amused, with a hint of an ulterior motive. "So you better get out while you can."

Izzy did not need to be told twice as he struggled to force him upward rather than down, swimming like a frog to cut through the air with ease. Unfortunately the forces of gravity were much too strong and he resumed falling like a rock.

As the realization that he was about to die became more and more of a reality, Izzy was surprised to feel an inflatable duck pool toy float up under him and save him from falling further.

"I have temporarily given you a life raft," the voice said. "You see, all those who are greedy fall into 'The Pit'."

"Who are you?" Izzy replied, his body shaking from the adrenaline rush that came from his fall. "And what do you want with me?"

"All will be revealed in good time, my young friend."

"What makes you think I'm being greedy?"

"Wanting to know too much, of course."

Izzy was getting even more confused by the second. What was so wrong with knowledge in the first place? Knowledge is what makes the world an interesting place, why there is so much to discover that he doesn't know yet, and the list went on. It didn't make any sense.

"What's wrong with the pursuit of knowledge?" he asked.

"See? You're doing it again!" the voice began to get angrier. "You can't seem stop yourself. You are heading straight for 'The Pit' at this rate if you don't learn to control yourself. You don't even know that you're doing it!"

"I don't?"

"It's like a disease with you! Oh well, nice knowing you."

Izzy's inflatable duck began to inflate even more, almost to the point of bursting due to the amount of air filling it. With a loud pop, the duck disintegrated and Izzy resumed falling down towards 'The Pit'.

"Tentomon!" he cried, hoping his Digimon guardian would hear him. "Help me!"

A green light flashed out of the corner of Izzy's eyes, revealing itself to be the maroon-colored bug.

"You called?" Tentomon said, completely unaware of the situation. Once he saw how serious it was, his big green eyes grew even wider before he darted down towards the boy. "Don't worry, Izzy! I'll save you!"

Izzy grabbed one of Tentomon's feet to halt his descent, screaming at the top of his lungs. The gravity was pulling at his feet, almost like a group of invisible hands were grabbing them to try and pull him down. The bug could only handle so much of Izzy squeezing his leg.

"It's your decision," the voice sneered. "Either give up your curiosity, or it's the end for you, my young friend."

"Don't let go, Izzy!" Tentomon urged as he could feel the boy's gloved hand begin to slip further down his leg. "Hold on!"

"I can't hold on any longer!" Izzy screamed in desperation. "Don't let me fall!"

"Then give up your curiosity."

"Don't listen to him, Izzy! I admire your curiosity."

"Shut up, bug!" the voice grew even more irritated, feeling that it was close to having Izzy submit to its will.

"It looks as though I don't have a choice," Izzy decided. "What should I do to keep us from falling down this pit?"

"STOP ASKING QUESTIONS!"

Izzy and Tentomon were sent falling even faster than they previously had. Izzy's screams echoed through the entire space as tears began to stream down his face from fear.

"Ok! Ok! I won't ask anymore questions! I don't wanna know! I don't wanna know!" he begged, pleading for the fall to stop.

The source of the voice seemed to be satisfied with his answer because it said, "Now that's more like it."

A light glimmered above as Izzy and Tentomon then came to a stop right in the middle of a universe that reminded Izzy of the solar system. The two of them still floated in mid-air, thankful that the fall was over.

Tentomon used one of his talons to wipe the imaginary sweat off of his brow in relief.

"Thank goodness," he sighed. "I'm sure glad that's over, Izzy. Where are we now?"

But the boy did not respond. Instead, he looked at the bug with a very far-off look in his eyes, like he was a walking zombie.

"Izzy?"

"Welcome to my universe," said the mysterious voice.

A few feet away from the two of them, a purple light in the shape of a moon appeared to reveal a dark shadow that looked like an alien. The shadow then parted to reveal a peach-colored alien creature.

"I'm Vademon," the Digimon introduced himself. "And I designed this universe myself. Welcome, young Jedi."

Izzy clapped his hands together and bowed to show respect, but Tentomon stared dumbfounded at Vademon. The bug could sense something was not quite right with this Digimon.

A small lilac blob rose from the space beneath them up towards Vademon before landing in his hand.

"Your curiosity is in this sac," he explained. "Now, young Jedi, I want you to simply meditate and become one with the Force. Go to your happy place and stay there."

Izzy nodded mindlessly, moving himself into a meditative position with his legs crossed and his hands resting on his knees. His eyes closed as he focused his attention inward, feeling the Force energy flow through his bloodstream.

"Izzy?" Tentomon poked the boy's cheek, trying to get his attention. "Izzy?"

Annoyed, Izzy unleashed Force waves to push the bug away from him.

"Don't bother me when I'm meditating," he said in a monotonous voice. "Go away."

"But I'm your guardian, Izzy. It's my job to protect you."

"You are relieved of your duties."

Tentomon then could make out the beginnings of a transmission. It was a little broken because the figure would cut in and out before finally becoming clear long enough to be registered. It was Tai.

"Izzy!" Tai's voice came out in static bursts.

Izzy opened his eyes to see the transmission with a disinterested look.

"Oh, it's Tai," he said. "Where are you?"

"I'm back in the real world, but I got your message that you were in trouble," Tai responded. "Tell me where you are so I can find you."

"That's funny. I am trying to find myself," Izzy replied as the message began to cut out once again. "Don't bother coming back here, Tai. You'll just clutter up the universe. Goodbye now."

With a final cry of his name, the transmission cut off, never to be heard from again. Izzy then resumed his meditative position and tuned his mind to the energy of the universe. Nothing else mattered anymore.

* * *

Vademon was like a kid in a candy store as he shook in excitement from the curiosity in his hand. What luck having a Destined Jedi appear in his universe. This was going to be fun. For him, the curiosity was just one small part of his plan. Next, he would steal Izzy's Force energy for himself once the boy shut down his mind enough that he wouldn't resist.

Walking through aisles of his junk shop, all sorts of items scattered the shelves. From old antiques to discarded items, there was something for the average customer that came his way. Vademon was a bit of a junk enthusiast, mostly because there was always someone dumb enough to buy a piece of junk. All it took was good marketing techniques.

You know how someone once said "There's a sucker born every minute"? Vademon lived and died by that statement.

DING-DONG!

"A customer," Vademon's excitement grew even more. "Just a moment. I'll be right with you."

Today was definitely going to be a good day.

* * *

DemiDevimon waited patiently as he rang the doorbell once more to let Vademon know he was there. If all went according to plan, Izzy would be dead before the day was through, and he would avoid Myotismon's wrath for once.

Ever since his data had been recalibrated into his current form, it was nothing but hardship for the diminutive bat. Sure, he failed with the other kids, but this time he wouldn't.

He screamed in surprise as Vademon jumped out of the hole in front of him without warning.

"How may I help you?" the peach-colored alien said.

DemiDevimon flashed a picture of Izzy to him.

"Did this kid happen to fall into your universe by any chance?" he asked.

The alien nodded. "Yes, he did."

The bat's smile grew even wider. "Good, because I have an offer to make you in regards to that Jedi."

Vademon didn't quite get DemiDevimon's hint, so he just assumed he was there for Izzy's curiosity.

"Ok, I'll be right back with that curiosity," he said.

"Hold on. What are you…?" DemiDevimon began to ask, but Vademon had already disappeared down the hole before he could finish.

The alien Digimon reappeared a split second later with the lilac sac that contained Izzy's curiosity.

"Here it is," he said. "Freshly caught, and not a moment too soon. So, what's your price, my friend?"

"I don't want some stupid curiosity!" DemiDevimon snapped. "I'm here to make sure that the Jedi doesn't make it out of your universe. Master Myotismon wants to make sure they don't all reunite to take him on."

Vademon turned away with a snobby look.

"That doesn't concern me," he replied dismissively. "All I want is his Force energy. If you haven't come to buy anything, then leave at once."

"Whoa! Hold on, hold on."

DemiDevimon knew that it was time to switch tactics. If this scrapper just wanted Izzy's Force energy, then he should up the ante with an even better offer.

"How's about this? Have him get rid of his lightsaber," he said. "Once that happens, you can get your Force energy. Once you have it, I'll finish the job and kill him with his lightsaber. That way, the Destined Jedi will never reunite and complete the prophecy. You'll get what you want, and I'll get what I want. How does that sound?"

Vademon's eyes widened significantly. That did sound enticing, and the lightsaber would fetch him a good price on the market.

"You have yourself a deal, my small friend," he nodded.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?!" DemiDevimon shouted into his face.

"Now don't get so worked up. I'll be back in a moment."

* * *

Everything fell silent for Izzy as he continued meditating, concentrating on feeling the energy of the entire universe like Vademon asked him to. The boy never felt more at peace than he did at that moment. Who needed knowledge when the universe could tell you everything you needed to know? The Force was coursing through him so swiftly that he could almost touch it.

"There's one more thing I forgot to mention," Vademon said as he appeared to the boy.

Izzy opened his eyes to look at him with blank eyes.

"Oh yes? What?" he asked.

"To truly become one with the Force, you must throw away all possessions that can be considered excess baggage."

"Such as?"

"Just about everything except your clothes."

Izzy nodded mindlessly, reaching for the lightsaber on his belt. He looked at it for a couple of seconds, almost as if he was hesitant to let it go, before tossing it towards Vademon.

The alien could hardly contain his smile as the lightsaber landed at his fingertips. His plan was moving along nicely, and the boy was almost ready to have his Force energy harvested. He couldn't wait.

"Now get back to your training."

Izzy once again nodded and resumed his meditative position.

" _Izzy! Snap out of it!"_ Tentomon's voice echoed in his mind.

" _Leave me alone, Tentomon,"_ Izzy replied. _"I must focus on my training."_

" _But this isn't you! Have you forgotten who you are? You're the Jedi of Knowledge. It's a part of who you are."_

Thoughts began to flood Izzy's mind as he closed his eyes. Various memories of his time in the Digital World played like a motion picture.

' _Don't listen to him, Izzy! I admire your curiosity.'_

' _I'm trying to understand how we came to this world and what forces are at work here.'_

' _This world must rely on a central life force. I wonder how we can access it.'_

One by one, those memories began to disappear, snapping Izzy out of his Force-induced trance. He shook his head out like a dog drying itself before coming to his senses. He couldn't lose any more of himself.

"I have to get my curiosity and my lightsaber back," he said. "But how will I do it?"

"You lie!" Vademon's voice echoed through the universe. "You're nothing but a Weaselmon!"

Izzy floated forward for a few seconds before a door revealed itself to him. He pressed his face up against the small window near the top of the door to see what was going on.

"Please! I'll have Master Myotismon compensate you handsomely if you follow through with this."

The boy noticed a rather small bat Digimon tailing Vademon like a lost puppy. The alien had his lightsaber grasped in one hand, while DemiDevimon eyed it with desperate eyes. So this was why Vademon asked him to get rid of his lightsaber. Something didn't feel right.

"I'm sorry, but killing is not in my line of business," said the alien, turning his nose away from DemiDevimon. "You can find another way to deal with the Jedi."

"You don't understand!" DemiDevimon begged. "If I fail to kill the Jedi, then Master Myotismon will have my head."

"That's not my problem, you pesky pipsqueak."

"OH YEAH? CAN A PIPSQUEAK DO THIS?!"

Izzy watched as the bat quickly made a grab for the lightsaber, but Vademon held strong. The two engaged in a tug-of-war over control of Izzy's lightsaber.

"Give me the lightsaber!" DemiDevimon grunted as he pulled as hard as he could, taking care not to accidentally hit the activation button or else he would be skewered on the spot.

"Not in a million years!"

A crash echoed throughout the shop as Vademon punted DemiDevimon into a barrel that carried several broomsticks.

Izzy was horrified by what he heard. This was Vademon's plan all along? To kill him? He needed to find his curiosity, and fast. He also had to get his lightsaber from the clutches of these evil Digimon.

Pushing the door open ever so slightly, Izzy hoped he could use their argument as cover. If they were so focused on each other, they wouldn't notice him sneak in and take his lightsaber right back. It was certainly worth a try.

Sneaking through the aisle, he reached an angle where he could see the two bickering Digimon but they couldn't see him. His lightsaber was still being tugged between them. The boy raised his hand to call it back to him.

The gravitational pull from Izzy's hand was too strong for Vademon and DemiDevimon as they finally let go of the blade and it came soaring back to Izzy.

"Hey, it's the kid!" the bat cried. "He's got the lightsaber."

"Give it back!" Vademon ordered, blasting several shots from his ray gun towards Izzy. The boy dove out of the way of the rays with ease, hardly breaking a sweat as he activated his lightsaber. The bright green blade then deflected several more shots, some crashing into shelves and sending their contents crashing to the floor.

Izzy couldn't waste anymore time with this battle. He had to get out while he could, so with a gesture of his hand, the two Digimon were pushed back into other shelves.

Something called out to Izzy from within the shop, so he followed where the Force was guiding him. Knowing he didn't have long until DemiDevimon and Vademon caught up to him, he moved as fast as he could before turning down one aisle of shelves. A lilac sac caught his eye.

' _My curiosity.'_

Taking the sac into his hands, Izzy quickly touched it to his forehead, uttering the words "Come back in my heart" several times. After a few moments, the sac absorbed into his body. His curiosity flooded back into him like electricity from a power generator. He was back to his old self again.

A purple light flashed blindingly as Izzy's curiosity returned. He looked at the symbol on his arm to see it glowing brighter than ever before.

' _When I get my hands on him, I'm going to kill him.'_

' _I just hope Master Myotismon will have mercy on me.'_

Those were Vademon and DemiDevimon's thoughts. Izzy realized at that moment that he could now hear the thoughts of others. This had to be the special power that he would unlock when he fully bonded with his lightsaber crystal.

' _Prodigious!'_ he thought as he ran from the aisle.

"Ah! There he goes!" DemiDevimon cried.

Time seemed to slow down as Izzy saw the two Digimon run towards him. He noticed that the door he came through was still wide open, and they were right in front of it. A plan suddenly came to him.

"Time for me to make an escape," he said as he channeled as much power as he could into his hand. Once it was so overwhelming that he couldn't contain it anymore, he unleashed it on them. DemiDevimon and Vademon screamed helplessly as they were launched into the alien's universe, with the door locking and closing after them.

Knowing he didn't have much time before they tried to come back, Izzy made his escape. The sunshine greeted him like a long lost friend as he climbed out of the hole, the warmth on his face lifting his spirits higher after being trapped in the cold universe for so long.

"Izzy!"

The boy smiled as he saw Matt and TK run towards him. He was happy to see some familiar faces after being separated from everyone for over two months.

Exhausted smiles were released as the blonde-headed brothers bent over to catch their breath, thankful that they were able to find their friend.

"Where were you?" TK asked.

"I was just learning the secrets of the universe," Izzy replied, a nonchalant grin plastered on his face. "It was interesting, but it was a bore."

The three of them laughed in unison before a gravelly voice interrupted their reunion. .

"Destined Jedi," it said as a light appeared before the three of them. Just as quickly as it came, it disappeared to reveal a projection of Gennai standing before the three boys.

"Gennai," they greeted.

"Find the others as quickly as you can," said the old man. "For an evil far greater than Devimon is about to reveal himself to you."

"Myotismon," Izzy whispered, feeling cold for a second as the name ran off his lips.

"That's correct, Izzy. He's marshaling an army, and quickly. Find the others and defeat him as soon as possible. The fate of both worlds depends on it."

Gennai's apparition then disappeared, leaving the three boys to think about what he had said.

"What does ' _marshaling_ ' mean?" TK asked, unfamiliar with the term.

"It means that he's building his army," Matt answered. "We have to get moving and find the others."

TK and Izzy nodded before the three of them went on their way to find the rest of the gang. Unbeknownst to them, DemiDevimon's screams echoed as he suffered even further at the hands of Myotismon.

* * *

 **So Izzy takes a little detour and unlocks his abilities. Will they find the others in time to destroy Myotismon before he finds them? Find out on the next Destined Jedi.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed that chapter. I made Vademon and DemiDevimon's pact a little more sinister to suit the story's purposes. I'll be starting school this coming week (senior year of college. Yay!) but as I said last week, I will do whatever it takes to stay on schedule because we haven't even reached the meat and potatoes of the story yet. See you all next week, and be sure to leave a review and subscribe to the story for more.**

 **P.S. Doesn't Vademon look like Roger from 'American Dad'? XD**


	21. Princess Karaoke

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: With DemiDevimon being Harry XD**

 **Music Chick: You can say that, I guess. We'll see what he does going forward in terms of his confidence in his abilities.**

* * *

 **Back with another chapter and, personally, one of my favorite episodes from the show. There'll be a bit of a twist towards the end, so I'm going to warn you about that right now. Other than that, enjoy!**

* * *

The water was calm and clear, with a gentle breeze blowing across the lake. It was just past mid-day with the sun hanging high in the sky. Tai and Joe borrowed the swan paddleboat to get themselves across the lake to where Tai had sensed another one of their friends.

The two of them had been peddling for two hours and already, their legs were starting to scream in protest at having to go any longer. Despite this, they were determined to find whoever it was they were sensing.

"Man," Joe panted as he peddled with what little strength in his legs he had left. "I…don't…think…I…can…take this…any longer."

"Just hang in there, Joe," Tai gently encouraged. "We'll be there soon. I think."

"How is that supposed to make me feel better?"

"Shut up and keep peddling."

Ten minutes later, there was still no trace of land coming up to greet them anytime soon. Tai started wondering if maybe it would have been better to walk to their destination rather than using the paddleboat.

"I hope Matt and TK are having better luck than we are," he said, looking for something to distract him from his aching legs. "At least they get to walk."

"You said it," Joe agreed. "I can't believe I would honestly say this, but I think walking would have been the better option."

"What's the matter? Can't handle a little hard work?"

A familiar snide voice joined the two boys' conversation. Tai didn't recognize the voice, but Joe sure did.

"Gomamon!" he greeted, seeing the seal Digimon swimming alongside the boat.

"Don't forget about me," said another voice, followed by the sound of a body sliding down to the front of the boat.

"Agumon!" said Tai, happy to see his guardian appear before him. "Boy, are we glad to see the two of you. Mind giving us a hand? We're pretty exhausted."

Gomamon and Agumon both smirked mischievously.

"Oh, we'd love to, Tai," the dinosaur began before Gomamon joined him in completing his sentence. "But our little legs just won't reach the petals."

Tai and Joe frowned as the two Digimon laughed at their misery.

"If you guys won't help us, then why are you here?" Tai asked with an angry frown on his face. If their Digimon guardians weren't there to help them, only make fun of them, then why did they come?

"Because we want to prepare the two of you for what is coming," replied Agumon.

"What are you talking about?"

"You might want to be careful where you're going next," Gomamon continued where Agumon left off. "Mimi has become the princess of the Gekomon castle, and if you think she's bad now, just wait until you see her there."

"How bad is she being there?" Joe asked.

Gomamon simply smirked. "You'll find out soon. See you guys later. Ta ta," he said as he and Agumon both disappeared, leaving the two boys alone finally.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" said Tai, fear flashing in his eyes for a brief moment at what he and Joe would find.

"Because I feel the same way," Joe replied.

Twenty more minutes passed until their boat finally reached land. Joe was so tired that his head fell back against the seat behind him, panting to get his breath back after peddling for so long. He felt like he had just completed the Tour de France.

Tai got out and studied the area around them. The sand on the beach was white, soft, and gathered in little funnels whenever the wind blew across the shore. His jaw dropped when he looked up on the cliff above. A castle from the Edo period loomed over the beach like an impassable mountain.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Tai finally said as Joe continued to get his breath back. "Let's go get Mimi."

He leapt from the sand all the way up to the top of the cliff, using the Force to enhance his jumping abilities.

"Tai, wait up!" Joe cried, not wanting to be left behind as he got out of the boat and leapt up to the cliff to join him.

The two walked across the wooden drawbridge that went over the shallow moat below before arriving at the two large white doors that served as the entrance to the castle. From most Edo period castles that they had seen, the doors seemed out of place considering they looked more like ones that would be in a Western-style mansion than an ancient palace.

From behind the doors, unintelligible yelling could be heard, which concerned the two boys greatly. Tai opened the door just a peek to see what the commotion was about. Frog-like Digimon with horns attached to their bodies were running around like a group of lunatics around the entire receiving area, yelling out things about "the princess being angry" and other things that didn't make sense to Tai and Joe.

"What's going on here?" Joe asked.

"Looks like some kind of a loony bin or something," Tai snickered as the frogs continued to run around like chickens with their heads cut off. Digimon that looked like tadpoles also were in a hurry. "Are they sure this is a castle?"

"It's about time you got here!" one of the frogs said in a lisp as it noticed the two human boys standing in the entryway. "Where's that triple hot fudge sundae we ordered for the princess?"

"No! She wanted a bowl of tonkotsu ramen straight from this place called Ichiran," another one said.

"Really? She said that she just wanted a bowl of miso soup with steamed rice and onigiri."

The frogs argued back and forth over what their princess had wanted. Tai and Joe were getting frustrated with the lack of answers.

"Excuse me," Tai said, interrupting the argument. "But have you seen a girl in a hat by any chance?"

"You're all wrong!" one of the tadpole Digimon barked. "You've come to deliver that new pink dress she ordered."

Another one came by. "That's old news now. She wants hot pink leather pants with matching go-go boots now," it said.

"Nobody told me."

The tadpoles too started arguing loudly to match the frogs still going at it over conflicting food orders that their princess had made.

"Boy, sounds like this princess of theirs is extremely picky," Joe smirked as he chuckled.

"Sounds kinda spoiled to me," Tai agreed.

A trumpet call flooded through the entire hall, which only increased the creatures' manic fervor as they bowed before the stairwell.

"Presenting her highness, the princess!" one of them announced as a figure then appeared at the top of the stairwell.

Tai and Joe's jaws dropped when they saw who it was.

"It's Mimi," they both gasped.

Mimi's face fell when she saw her two companions standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was dressed in a white and pink dress with white elbow-length gloves adorning her arms. She carried a traditional Japanese fan in her hands, and a crown adorned her head instead of her hat. Her lightsaber hung at her side.

"What a surprise," she sighed, not at all happy to see Tai and Joe.

"You're telling me," Tai replied. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I'm being a princess of course."

Joe chortled slightly as he realized that the spoiled princess they had been hearing about turned out to be Mimi. He couldn't say he was surprised in the slightest.

"We need to talk," he finally said.

* * *

"You're joking, right?" Mimi huffed, her arms folded across her chest. "You honestly expect me to come with you?"

"Ideally, that was the plan," Tai replied, his teeth gnashing in frustration as this conversation continued on. No matter what he said, Mimi was refusing to come with them. "Now get out of that dress and let's go."

"No way!"

Mimi had taken them to her bedroom, which reminded both boys of a Western-style room with a four poster bed and vanity. She truly had gone all in on this princess thing.

"It's not the best thing to walk in, Mimi."

"Walking? I have no intention of walking anywhere."

Joe finally saw his chance to speak.

"Do you expect us to carry you, your majesty?" he said in a sarcastic tone.

This only irritated Mimi even more. Why would she want to give up the comforts she was given in exchange for walking aimlessly around the Digital World in pursuit of monsters with no promise of food or a good night's sleep? It didn't make sense to her.

"No," she pouted. "I'm not going. Why would I leave? I'm a princess here. Besides, we don't even know if we'll get home so I may as well live large and in charge."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Joe groaned, feeling a headache coming on from all this arguing. This must be what his parents felt like whenever he or his brothers would refuse to do something that they asked.

"Look around you. I've got a nice, soft bed; pretty clothes; food. It's like having a birthday every day. I am a princess," Mimi sneered at them. "And you expect me to give this up? I don't think so."

"Damn it, Mimi!" Tai growled. Mimi's spoiled attitude was really getting on his nerves. "Stop acting like a big spoiled brat and let's go. This isn't a game."

"I'm not playing a game, Tai! I'm staying!" she shouted, reaching the end of her rope with them. "Why don't you guys go look for the others? Get out of my palace!"

"Not without you!"

"Why do you think we nearly killed ourselves trying to find you?" Joe interrupted, trying to maintain a calm demeanor in hopes of solving the situation civilly. "Because you are part of the group, one of seven Destined Jedi."

"Who cares about being a stupid Jedi?" Mimi shrieked.

Tai couldn't contain his anger anymore and slapped her with the back of his hand, sending her crashing to the floor. This only enraged Mimi more as she glared at him with daggers in her eyes, tears threatening to trickle down her face.

Before anyone could do anything, she picked up a bell from a nearby table and rang it so fiercely that it sounded like the bell on a fire truck. The frog creatures appeared a split second later.

"What is it you desire, princess?" one asked.

"I want these annoying peasants removed from my room immediately!" she ordered.

They obeyed the command without hesitation and promptly carried the two boys out of her room despite their protests. Mimi did not think twice about what she did.

* * *

Tai grunted in pain as his face made contact with the wooden boards of the drawbridge. He and Joe slowly collected themselves from off the ground, still smarting from Mimi's refusal to leave with them.

' _I don't get how someone can be so selfish,'_ he vented internally. _'But Mimi takes it to another level.'_

"This is ridiculous," said Joe, fixing his glasses into their proper place. "What did Mimi do to earn all of this?"

"You really wanna know?" one of the frogs asked, a sad look crossing its face. The rest of them also had crestfallen looks on their faces.

Tai and Joe nodded.

"Then follow us."

The creatures led the two boys away from the main building of the castle and towards what looked to be a spare building on the edge of the property. Though not as enormous as the castle, it was still bigger than any palace they had seen before.

"Won't Mimi know we're here?" Tai asked, hoping that they won't be caught and thrown back out.

"Don't worry, she won't," one of the frogs replied, hoping to ease their concerns as they entered the building.

At the front of the room, sitting upon a large stage was what appeared to be a big red statue with its back turned to them. Its topknot barely touched the floor. Stage lights surrounded it, and a disco ball hung over the stage.

"Geez," said Tai, his jaw slacked open at the size of the statue. "Someone's had a few too many donuts than they should."

"This is our master, Lord Shogunmon," a frog explained.

"Your lord is a statue?" Joe asked.

He was met with angered gasps.

"How dare you insult Lord Shogunmon!" said a tadpole. "He's not a statue. He's very much alive. He's been in this state for 300 years."

"Long ago, he entered his singing contest. Lord Shogunmon was always proud of his voice and had never been defeated. Sadly, he lost and was so heartbroken that he forced himself into this deep sleep from which he's never recovered."

"It's said that only a voice as beautiful as the one that defeated him will be the one to wake him up from his nap," another frog continued. "Sadly, we've tried and failed many times. You see, we Gekomon love music but none of us has a voice that would be considered beautiful."

Tai finally caught on to what was happening.

"Eventually you guys came across Mimi," he surmised, to which the three Gekomon nodded. "But how?"

"This little Digimon told us about a girl with a beautiful voice," said a tadpole. "He told us where to find her, and we did. Things started off well enough, she almost succeeded in waking him up until she forgot the words to the song. We tried everything to get her to remember: we made her a large feast, we catered to her every whim, anything to make her happy. Eventually, she took advantage of us, threatening not to sing anymore if we didn't do as she said."

"It's been like this for the last two months," the other tadpole echoed. "Could you please help us?"

The five Digimon looked at the boys with the biggest puppy dog eyes that they could muster. Tai and Joe could sense the desperation in their voices, so they decided to help them. Plus they also needed Mimi to be back in the group for their mission to be possible.

"Ok, we'll help you," Tai said.

The creatures unleashed cries of pure happiness.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" One Gekomon said, tears running down its face.

"Are you sure about this, Tai?" Joe asked, not liking where Tai was going with this. He had been caught in enough of Tai's hair-brained ideas during his time in the Digital World.

Tai nodded confidently. "Yeah. Who says you need Mimi to wake up Jumbo there? We can do this ourselves. I'll take a shot and then you will if I can't do it."

Joe's face went white with fear. "No! I don't sing!"

"Too late. You signed on to help them, so you've gotta go through with it."

"But…" Realizing that he wasn't going to win this argument, Joe sighed in defeat. "I can't believe you convince me to do these things," he growled between clenched teeth.

"Oh, come on. How bad can it be?"

Tai took the microphone from the Gekomon who offered it to him and ran up on stage. The music then started blasting out of speakers, filling the entire room with the loud noise. If that wouldn't wake ShogunGekomon up, then how could someone's voice do it, Tai wondered.

When he finally started to sing, everyone in the room cringed at how off-key his singing was. They almost covered their ears due to how bad it was. It wasn't until he realized that his singing wasn't waking the giant frog up that he decided to finally give up.

When he did stop, he could see Joe and the others cracking up. His face burned beet red in agitation.

"Then you give it a try, wise guy!" he spat, dragging Joe up by his arm while ignoring his protests.

Joe froze with fear as the spotlight shined on him. Tai tossed the microphone into his chest, shocking him for a moment before taking it into his hand. He stood paralyzed for several seconds, not finding the words to shoot out of his mouth. His mind was completely blank.

"Sing something!" Tai urged impatiently.

The bespectacled boy stammered for several seconds, scrolling through his brain for something to sing.

" _She's a lady,"_ he sang in an unnaturally high voice. " _Whoa-oh-oh she's a lady. Talking about that little lady. And the lady is mine."_

Once again, nothing happened with ShogunGekomon. He stayed as stationary as a true statue would.

"It's no use," Joe sighed with a defeated tone, dropping the microphone to the ground.

"After that, he may not wake up for another 300 years," Tai echoed, feeling just as defeated.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Everyone turned in horror to see Mimi standing at the entrance to the hall. Her clenched fists and gnashing teeth, along with her beet red face, gave them all the inclination that they needed to know she was not happy to see them.

"How did you get back in here?" she demanded, her fury fixed on Tai and Joe.

The two boys were too stunned by her appearance to make coherent answers so she turned on the Gekomon and the tadpoles.

"It was _you,_ wasn't it?" her voice low and menacing. The five of them cowered in fear. "I told you to throw these bothersome peasants out of my royal palace, and you deliberately disobeyed me!"

"W-we're sorry, princess," they bowed in contrition. "Please forgive us."

An evil sneer began to creep up Mimi's lips as an idea crossed her mind. "You thought you could deceive me, huh?" she said. "Well, I'll show you what happens when you cross Princess Mimi."

"That's Princess _Meanie_! _"_ Tai retorted just as she was about to draw her lightsaber from her side.

"Who do you think you are anyway?" Joe jumped down from the stage to join. "Don't you remember that we're your friends?"

Mimi huffed. "Then why did you slap me?"

"Because we're trying to help you! Have you forgotten that you're the Jedi of Sincerity, Mimi?"

She huffed once again, turning away from him.

Tai stomped up onto the stage to grab the microphone from the floor. If this plan worked out, then they would be out of there in no time with Mimi in tow.

"Well then fine," he said, tossing it to her. "If you think you can do better, then go ahead and sing. If you can finish the song, Joe and I will leave and never return."

"Fine, I will," Mimi replied, her nose in the air, before waltzing up to the stage. "If I do this, you must hold up your promise to never come back here again. If you ever come around here again, I will not hesitate to throw you in the dungeon for life."

"Just sing, your worship!"

Once again, the music echoed throughout the hall. Mimi's glare at the two boys intensified as she cleared her throat to sing the first words of the song. Her voice sounded like that of an angel from the highest heavens, the sweetest songbird, and a nightingale all in one.

The other Gekomon had started to gather as Mimi began the song. They watched with excitement and breathless anticipation as the droopy topknot from ShogunGekomon's head began to rise from the floor. This was finally going to work. At last, their master would be revived and they would begin their renaissance once again.

Mimi remembered each and every word, never stumbling as the topknot inched closer to the giant frog's head.

A loud 'ribbit' went through the entire room, almost sounding like an earthquake beginning to rumble beneath the surface. Everyone turned to see the now-revived ShogunGekomon turn towards them, his face narrowed in an annoyed stare.

"Which of you idiots was the one who woke me up?" he roared with a booming voice. "I was having such a nice dream too!"

With one giant, webbed foot, ShogunGekomon stomped off the stage, kicking holes in the stone walls, as he barreled towards the crowd of Gekomon. Everyone else realized the seriousness of the situation and started running away from him.

Tai and Joe drew out their lightsabers and activated them before springing into action. Before they could get near the giant frog, he unleashed an attack from the two horns on his shoulders. The two of them were blown back with the rest of the Gekomon through a hole in the stone wall.

Mimi watched in horror as she saw them tumble down to the beach below. Tai and Joe thankfully flipped in mid-air before landing on their feet. Several pieces of the roof above fell towards her, but she used the Force to send them away.

She just realized that, compared to ShogunGekomon, she wasn't that bad.

' _How could I be so stupid?'_ she thought remorsefully. _'My friends don't deserve this. It's time to set things right.'_

The purple blade of her lightsaber emerged a second later as she turned to face the tyrant frog king.

"Hey, you!" she cried, drawing his attention. "How about some gratitude? I just sang you out of your 300 year nap, ugly!"

ShogunGekomon took great offense to the way she spoke to him. Who was this human that was trying to tell him what to do?

"You were the one making all that racket?" he replied.

Mimi backed up slightly as he began moving towards her this time. Before she had any time to set up a defensive stance, a large boulder came up and collided with ShogunGekomon. The ground shook as he fell to the ground.

"Don't worry, Mimi," Tai called from below. "We're not going to let that slimy frog get you!"

He and Joe then jumped from the beach up onto the ledge of the hole before running up to her.

"Are you ok?" asked Joe.

Mimi nodded. "Yes. Thank you. Guys, I…"

Tai stopped her before she could say anymore, knowing what she was going to say.

"It's all right, Mimi," he said with a warm smile. "We're just happy to have you back."

A loud groan from the giant frog caught their attention as they raised their sabers. If ShogunGekomon was furious before, he was even more angry now.

"That hurt! Now you're gonna pay," he roared as he again blasted more sound waves from his horns towards the three Jedi.

Using their Jedi reflexes, they somersaulted away from the sound waves before they could reach them. Tai swung at the air in front of the giant frog, trying to back him away, but was kicked away with one gesture of ShogunGekomon's foot. Joe stayed back to protect Mimi as they were pelted with saliva. It was disgusting.

As she blocked more of the murky fluid, Mimi finally looked up at where ShogunGekomon was standing: right underneath a stable part of the roof. She remembered the pieces nearly falling on top of her, which gave her an idea.

"Joe!" she cried. "I've got an idea!"

"What is it?" he asked as he put his Soresu training to good use, turning away every glob of frog mucus that came his way.

"Think you can hold off Tubby here for just a few moments longer?"

"What do you have in mind?"

"You'll see."

With that, Mimi deactivated her lightsaber and fell in behind Joe just as ShogunGekomon was about to unleash the largest amount of mucus that he could spit. She then concentrated on the tiles above him as she used the Force to bring the whole thing down on top of the giant frog. The only part of him showing was his topknot.

"Alright!"

* * *

It didn't take long for Mimi to dress back into her old clothes while Tai and Joe waited for her in the entrance hall of the castle.

As she descended down the stairwell, the Gekomon and Otamamon, which the boys learned was what the tadpoles were called, created an archway for her. She had fiercely apologized to them for how she had treated them this whole time, and they accepted it without hesitation.

"Well, Mimi, you ready to go?" Tai asked.

"I guess," she replied. "Can't I bring some of my princess clothes with me though?"

He and Joe sweatdropped.

"Mimi!"

"Well it just seems like such a waste," she retorted. "The jewels at least?"

"No! Now let's go," said Joe as he and Tai started out the door.

With one final goodbye, Mimi followed them out pouting in silence.

Far from their detection, but still close enough to see, Sora watched with a bright smile as she watched her three friends head down to the beach to pile in the paddleboat.

' _Everything is back to the way it should be,'_ she thought happily.

" _Sora, I think it's time that you finally reveal yourself to them,"_ Biyomon's voice echoed in her head. _"They're worried about you."_

" _In due time,"_ Sora telepathically replied back.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed that. The Princess Mimi episode definitely has to be one of my favorites from the series because of Mimi being all "off with their heads" at practically every moment XD I cut out some parts from it because while they were good, it didn't suit my purpose.**

 **The song Joe sang was of course 'She's A Lady' by the great Tom Jones. Be sure to leave a review and favorite/follow the story because things are starting to pick up in the next couple of chapters. Now that the group is (almost) whole, what happens next? Stay tuned for more.**

 **See y'all next week ;-) Even with school picking up steam, I'll find a way to deliver great chapters for you guys every single week.**


	22. The Master of All Evil

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yes, Tai probably shouldn't have done that XD But then again, Mimi was being irritating. You haven't seen nothing yet, my friend.**

 **Music Chick: Yes she was. Who would have thought Joe liked Tom Jones? XD**

 **Thanks to the both of you for your loyal reviews. I look forward to them every time.**

* * *

 **So here we are with yet another chapter in the Destined Jedi saga. Prepare yourselves because a new evil is about to finally reveal himself to the Jedi. I think you know who. Enjoy.**

 **Emperor Serperior, if you're reading this, this is the moment you have been waiting for ;-)**

* * *

DemiDevimon's pained cries echoed off the castle walls as Force lightning surged through his small body. Once again, he failed at keeping the Destined Jedi separated and now they were almost fully reunited. It would only be a matter of time until they arrived at the castle steps to destroy his master. Myotismon had not taken kindly to his failure and decided it was time to teach the diminutive bat a lesson.

As he watched DemiDevimon scream and writhe in agony from the Force lightning, Myotismon became angrier and angrier with each strand of electricity that flowed from his fingertips. He was never known to be a forgiving Digimon, so any who crossed his path knew better than to slight him, even if unintentionally.

"Because of you, DemiDevimon, all my evil plans have failed," he hissed, barely registering over the loud screams. "The Destined Jedi are almost reunited, and when they are, they will come to destroy me."

"Please…Master!" DemiDevimon yelled as the Force lightning grew so intense that he could barely get any words out. "Let me…explain!"

"It's too late for that! You have failed me for the last time."

"Please give me one more chance! I have another plan that won't fail, I promise!"

Myotismon ceased the attack from his fingertips to listen to what the diminutive bat had to say. DemiDevimon had failed him one too many times already so he didn't feel as though he should listen, but he did.

DemiDevimon panted heavily to get his breath back after enduring the lightning for so long, almost to the point of death. With unsteady legs, he managed to pick himself up.

"What is this plan of yours?" Myotismon asked, the tone of his voice causing the bat to flinch. "We are running out of time, DemiDevimon."

"Please, Master, you won't regret it. I know it all may seem hopeless, but I still have an idea," DemiDevimon then opened a portal showing Sora meditating at the base of a tree. "This Jedi still has not reunited with the others because of me. Once they all get together, that is when we'll destroy them, Master. What better way to destroy the Destined Jedi than to destroy them all at once?"

Myotismon pondered this for several moments. The diminutive bat had a very good point; he could destroy the Destined Jedi all at once, rather than separately, and make sure that the job was done the way he wanted it to be. It was decided.

"Ok," he replied slowly. "But if this plan fails, I will not hesitate to turn you into data, DemiDevimon."

"Yes, my lord," DemiDevimon immediately dropped into a bow. "I promise it will succeed."

* * *

"Can't you make this thing go any faster?" Mimi asked, perched atop the boat like she were still the princess of the Gekomon castle. Even with the sun at her back, which her hat protected her from, she still felt hot.

"We're trying the best that we can," Tai spat back. _'Backseat driver.'_

As he and Joe peddled, Tai wondered how Matt and TK were doing. He hoped that they found whoever it was that he had sensed. All they needed to do was find Sora and they would finally be whole once again.

' _I hope she's ok,"_ he thought as the shore got closer and closer to them. _'I wonder why she hasn't revealed herself to us yet.'_

When he almost ate a Mushroom of Forgetfulness back when he found TK, he had heard Sora tell him through the Force not to eat them, saving him and TK from losing their memories. Ever since then, he had been trying to reach out to her again, but she never answered him.

Finally, the swan boat reached the shore. Joe slouched in his seat as he exhaled in exhaustion. It had been a long journey and his legs felt like they had run a marathon with the amount of peddling he had been doing.

Tai climbed out of his seat to help Mimi get down from the top of the boat.

"Come on, Mimi. Get off your throne," he ordered.

She huffed before replying, "I wouldn't call this a throne."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't call you a princess."

Mimi used the Force to cause some sand to dump itself on the boy. She laughed at her handiwork, which Joe joined in.

"Very funny." Tai grunted in frustration as he picked himself up off the ground. Mimi finally jumped down into his waiting arms as the three of them gathered their supplies.

"Hey, you guys!" a cry from a few yards away echoed across the beach.

They turned to see Matt, TK, and Izzy all running towards them. After getting reacquainted for a few moments, with Izzy telling them what had happened to him. Tai and Joe then explained what happened at the Gekomon castle, which earned rousing laughs from the rest of the group. It was almost like they had never been apart.

"Hey, where's Sora?" Tai asked. "Have you guys seen her?"

Matt shook his head. "No, we haven't," he replied. "You guys haven't seen her?"

"No," Joe added sadly.

Tai then remembered the Mushrooms of Forgetfulness.

"Come to think of it, I think I heard Sora's voice once," he said. "It was when I found TK and DemiDevimon tried to feed us those Mushrooms of Forgetfulness. A voice went through my head telling me not to eat them. I think it was Sora."

"Then why doesn't she come out and reveal herself to us?" TK asked.

"Maybe she doesn't want to," said Matt, looking as though something was weighing on his mind. "Or maybe she can't."

"Can't?" Everyone echoed nervously.

"Maybe something happened to her. I don't have a-"

Matt then sensed a familiar Force energy, cutting him off from delivering his explanation. He turned his head towards the forest.

Everyone seemed to understand what he felt.

"I sense it too," Tai nodded as they all ran into the forest, following the Force energy trail that they hoped would lead them to Sora.

* * *

Hours passed and the group still had not found any trace of Sora yet. To make matters worse, the sun was beginning to set, which meant they had a limited time to try and find her before it got dark.

Cries of her name echoed through the forest, but no answer came their way.

"Jeez, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack looking for her," Tai panted in frustration before crying out, "Sora! Where are you?"

His words echoed through the trees but he received nothing in response.

"It's no use," Joe sighed before collapsing to his butt.

Mimi too sat down on the ground, her feet aching beyond comprehension. She was beginning to regret leaving the Gekomon castle. At least there she didn't have to walk miles and miles.

"I'm hungry," TK said, his hand on his stomach.

Tai felt his own stomach start to rumble in hunger. They all hadn't had too much to eat all day and it began to show. They had to find food as soon as possible. But right now, Sora was the only thing that mattered to them.

"I know we're all tired right now," he said. "But we have to find Sora. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can all eat."

"Tai, hold on a second," retorted Matt. "Let's try and come up with a plan because we don't know where we're going."

"Well, what's your idea, Matt?"

Before Matt could say anything, the Jedi sensed something coming towards them. For a second, they thought it could be Sora, but a buzzing reached their ears.

Tai, Matt, and Izzy quickly activated their lightsabers as the buzzing got closer and closer. Suddenly, a Digimon that looked like a bee swooped down towards the group. They dove down to the ground to avoid the attack before moving into the trees to hide.

"What the heck is that?" Joe screamed.

Izzy took out his laptop. When they were still at Gennai's house, the old man had installed a new Digimon analyzer into the device to help them identify certain Digimon.

As he scrolled through the files that were downloaded, he came across the bee.

"It's called Flymon," he said as a stinger came hurling towards the group. The others ducked out of the way in time as it settled into the tree trunk like a dart - right between Izzy's legs.

Izzy quickly checked to make sure that everything was okay. After feeling around to know they were indeed okay, he sighed in relief before climbing over it and escaping with the others.

Flymon shot more stingers towards the group of kids but Tai and Matt managed to strike each one down. They couldn't waste time fighting this Digimon; they needed to find Sora, and quickly.

Out of the trees, a figure leapt on top of the insect Digimon and drove a blue lightsaber straight through its body. The bug let out a cry of pain as it fell to the ground, landing with a loud thud.

Once the dust cleared, the group gasped at who was on top of the dead Digimon. It was Sora.

"Sora!" Tai cried. A weight fell off of him as he finally set eyes on the auburn-haired girl for the first time in days.

As she withdrew her lightsaber, Sora ran away from everyone.

"Oh, no you don't!" he said as he chased after her.

* * *

Sora ran deep into the forest in hopes of losing her friends. She wasn't ready to come back to the group just yet. It wasn't that she didn't want to come back, she just needed time to deal with the guilt she felt.

She arrived at a creek, which had three landing pads lined up towards the other side. She looked behind her to make sure that no one was following her before leaping across the rocks to the other side of the creek.

After a few more yards, Tai came out of the bushes to cut off her escape.

"Sora," he said, panting heavily from the amount of running he had done to keep up with her. "Stop…running. There's nowhere else for you to run."

Sora's eyes widened when she realized that Tai was indeed standing in front of her. Her mind was begging her to keep running, but her feet stayed planted in the ground.

Her bottom lip quivered as tears spilled. Before it could register what was happening, she found herself wrapped in his arms as Tai softly muttered soothing words. She wanted to return the hug. She needed this. She craved this reassurance that he was okay and now that he was here, it was going to be okay.

"Hey," Tai started in a soft tone, holding on to her tighter. "Tell me why you ran away."

Sora took a step back, wiping her tears away on her right arm. Tell him? Did he really want to know? As fast as lightning, her right fist sailed right towards his nose.

Tai grunted in pain once her fist made contact as he collapsed to the ground. Pain exploded up his nose, so bad that he had to press his fingers against it to alleviate himself. For a girl, she sure could punch hard.

"What the heck?!" he cried.

"Idiot! What's wrong with you?!" Sora screamed with fury, ignoring his groans of pain. "Do you know how important you are to this group? We needed you, and you had to go and be heroic by sacrificing yourself instead of letting me go!"

"Are you freaking serious?" Tai replied astonished, his answer muffled due to him holding his nose. "That's what friends do, Sora! We look out for each other! No one knew where that portal would lead, and like heck I'd let anything happen to you, of all people!"

"You're like our leader, Tai!" she countered. "When you left, we..." Wringing her wrists, Sora's eyes lowered, shifting side to side as she remembered the past, unaware that the rest of the group stood nearby behind her.

"What?" Tai sincerely asked, wiping his nose with his shirt to make sure there wasn't blood. He tried hiding the pain that came with it, but couldn't help showing a small wince.

"I'm not like you, okay?" she spat, staring him straight in the eyes. "I'm not a leader. I did my best to keep everyone together, but they all went their own way to look for you. But when you made it back to us, it's like..."

Sora sighed, shrugging her shoulders. The rest of the words wouldn't come out. They stayed tied in a knot in her throat, serving as the painful, constant reminder of all her failures and shortcomings.

Until one whisper was released. "I hate you."

Tai's brows furrowed. "You don't mean that."

"I hate you!" the scream vomited out with all her might as her fists beat against his chest. "How could you do that! How could you leave us!"

"Sora!" he blocked her fists as he attempted to calm her. "I'm here now! I'm here!"

"I couldn't be like you!" she whimpered as her fists slowed down. "I failed trying to keep us together...I thought you...I couldn't sense you with the Force..." Sora pulled Tai into a hug and bawled.

The air stilled as the only sounds that echoed were her sobs. Tai held her tight, rubbing her back while saying nothing. He realized he needed her hug just as much as she did and stepped in closer. When her sobs began to soften, he wiped her tears. He flashed her his famous goofy grin when she looked up to make contact with his eyes.

"You're my best friend, Sora. I'll always protect you 'til the end. If another portal opened again, and if you were in danger, I'd do it again with no regrets. Because that's what leaders do: We protect our friends."

She nodded, sniffing away her tears with a grin. "Yeah, idiot. I know. Hey, Tai?"

"Hmm?"

"I...I don't hate you."

He grinned. "I know you don't."

The rest of their friends now encircled them, careful not to interrupt. When Tai pulled Sora in for a hug, Mimi was the first to join the hug.

"Oh, Sora! We love you, you silly girl!" Mimi squealed.

"Me too!" TK squeaked running in to join the hug.

Before long, everyone joined the hug, creating one big group hug. Sora couldn't help but let quiet tears slip through, holding on to Tai's shirt as some of them laughed with joy; her symbol glowing a bright red as she enjoyed the hug.

"Thanks, guys," said Sora. "Thanks so much."

* * *

Night came fast, with a blood red moon giving an ominous glow to the landscape. It was almost as though it was expecting something horrible to happen on this night. At a dark castle, a drawbridge fell to allow a carriage to fly out from the Gothic structure.

A large, black, flying Digimon pulled the carriage like a horse with a ghoul-like creature controlling the reins. It was headed right towards the forest.

* * *

From the safety of the tree branches, DemiDevimon watched like a fly on the wall as the Destined Jedi settled in for the night. His face twisted into a wicked grin, thinking of how pleased Myotismon will be when his plan worked.

After watching them for another hour, the Jedi fell asleep one by one until they were all completely lost in Dream Land. The time was now. After alerting Myotismon to their position, he sat silently and waited a few extra minutes to be certain they would not wake up when he attacked.

Once it looked as though none of the kids would wake up if he came into view, DemiDevimon produced a Demi Dart. His eyes were fixed completely on Sora as he floated closer and closer to the girl, his foot itching to throw the dart with each passing second.

The diminutive bat would have succeeded in his plan, if it hadn't been sheer luck that Tai happened to wake up for a drink of water. Just as the bat threw the dart towards Sora, Tai ignited his lightsaber and cut it into two pieces. The sound of the ignition awoke the other Destined Jedi.

"What's going on?" Joe cried, still half-asleep until his eyes rested on DemiDevimon. Everybody else was awake by now, staring directly at the bat as he backed away from the group.

"What are you doing here, you little rat?" Tai demanded, pointing his lightsaber threateningly.

DemiDevimon eyed the blue blade with wide, scared eyes, knowing one slice would be the end of him. Even so, he refused to answer Tai's question.

"Talk! Or I swear, I will slice you to pieces!"

Just as DemiDevimon was about to say something, a big dark cloud blew overhead, blotting out the moonlight and encompassing the area in darkness. The only source of light was the fire, which still burned bright, until it too was consumed by the darkness.

Once the cloud passed, the moon looked a darker shade of red than it previously had been. Not only that, but a carriage began to make its way towards them. From the back of the carriage, a sarcophagus fell towards the ground, opening in mid-air to reveal a figure wrapped in a dark cloak, obscuring the kids' vision of who it could be.

The folds of the cloak then flew back like a large gust of wind blew against it, revealing the figure behind it. The kids gasped as the figure's cold blue eyes gazed at them like a lion sizing up its prey.

"Destined Jedi," it cackled maliciously, his voice booming as he addressed the children. "I am so honored to finally meet you."

"What is that thing?" Joe stuttered, his fear overpowering him.

DemiDevimon cackled loudly as he flew to the side of the figure.

"He's not a thing," he said, his face copying the vampire's sneer. "He's Lord Myotismon."

The kids couldn't believe their eyes. This was the famous Myotismon that Gennai had warned them about.

Myotismon was a tall figure, almost six and a half feet tall with long, blonde hair that was tied at the back. His attire evoked an image of Count Dracula, but much more sinister and without the Transylvanian accent. A maroon mask laid over his blue eyes while his lips curled just enough to show the children his fangs.

"So you're Myotismon," Tai said, trying to keep his voice even to disguise the fear that radiated through his entire body.

"THAT'S LORD MYOTISMON, YOU LITTLE TWIT!" DemiDevimon roared, angry at the disrespect they were giving his master.

"Quiet!" Myotismon said, which shut the little bat up instantly, before turning to the kids. "So, you are the famous Destined Jedi that have been giving me so much trouble. I must say, you're shorter than I expected."

"We could say the same about you," said Tai, slighted by the vampire's generalization of them. "We were expecting the lord of all evil, but instead we got a creepy old vampire who hides in the shadows."

Rather than feel insulted by the retort, Myotismon simply chuckled.

"Insolent to the last. I admire that in my prey. Well, let's see how you handle the true power of the dark side."

Without a word of warning, Force lightning jetted itself from his fingertips towards the children. Tai raised his saber to defend himself from the electricity while the others quickly activated theirs to ward it off. After a few more moments, Myotismon finally ceased the attack, sensing how strong they had become.

"Gennai has taught you all well," he hissed. "He chose his attack dogs correctly, but let's see if any of you have the courage to face me yourselves."

Knowing his role as the Jedi of Courage, Tai stepped forward to face the vampire. Myotismon activated his lightsaber as he saw Tai come towards him. The bright red blade pierced the night sky with a menacing glow.

"Be careful, Tai," said Sora.

Tai flashed her his famous grin. "Don't worry, Sora. I'll be fine. Besides, we're avatars in this world. What happens to me here has no effect otherwise. If I die here, I'll just bounce right back."

Everyone gasped in horror at what he had said. Did he just say they were like video game characters while in the Digital World? Before anyone could say anything otherwise, Tai went charging in against Myotismon with a wild cry.

The vampire chuckled underneath his smirk.

' _Foolish child,'_ he thought as his and Tai's sabers clashed. Tai attacked with reckless abandon, trying to throw the vampire off at every opportunity with sheer power and agility. Myotismon knew this to be a foolish strategy because the boy would wear out at some point, so he kept his defense up and did not attack.

Blow after blow came, and Tai was beginning to run low on his energy. His strikes became noticeably weaker and whenever Myotismon mounted a counterstrike, Tai did not move as swiftly as he normally would have to dodge it.

After a saber lock, Tai panted heavily, his arms feeling like hundred pound weights and his heart pumping like a galloping horse to try and pump more oxygen into his body in order to keep up. Myotismon could sense his weakness, and he was going to take advantage of it.

"You fool! You've wasted all of your energy," he chuckled. "I expected more from the leader of the Destined Jedi. Now it's my turn."

Tai raised his saber just in time as Myotismon swiped his own saber diagonally, trying to go for his side, but he could sense the attack was only beginning. More strikes came in a blur, testing Tai's defenses to the limits.

"Hold on, Tai!" he heard Matt cry as he and the others came charging towards the two of them, trying to help their leader in his time of need.

"Don't interfere!" Myotismon roared, using the Force to push the children away.

Tai used the distraction to his advantage and slashed Myotismon on the shoulder. The vampire hissed in pain, but continued fighting as though nothing had happened. Back and forth they went until Tai made his fatal mistake.

He leaped towards Myotismon to plunge his lightsaber into the vampire's chest, but Myotismon anticipated the move by shoving his lightsaber blade into Tai's shoulder. The boy's screams of pain echoed across the entire plain as his shoulder burned with the heat of a thousand fires.

"The screams!" Myotismon laughed in sadistic pleasure as Tai continued to scream. The sound of them filled him with joy. "How I adore them!"

The vampire withdrew his lightsaber from Tai's shoulder and threw him towards the group. The boy's face was scrunched in agony as he rolled onto his back, his hand clutching his shoulder. Tears rolled down his cheeks from the pain.

"Tai!" Everyone screamed, trying to get to him, but Myotismon created a crimson whip from Force energy and sent most of them flying away. Sora was the only one able to break through and reach him.

"Oh my…" she gasped as she got a look at his injury. A gaping singed hole went right through Tai's shoulder. She could see right through the limb, nearly making her throw up at the sight.

"Sora," he groaned through clenched teeth. "Help…me. It…hurts."

"Why do you have to be such an idiot?" she admonished, frustrated he would be so reckless. "Myotismon could have killed you! You're lucky he didn't finish the job."

"Because…I just…am."

The two of them watched as Matt, Izzy, and Joe tried to engage Myotismon to distract the vampire from making his way to their wounded leader. Even with the three of them attacking, it was easy to see they were completely overmatched against the likes of Myotismon.

First, the vampire used the Force to lift Izzy into the air and throw him a few feet away from the group to hit the ground with a sickening crash. Then, after a well-timed parry to Joe's counterattack, which left the boy stunned for a good moment, he unleashed a torrent of Force lightning to disable him. Finally, Matt was kicked in the stomach and Force pushed back to TK and Mimi.

"It's no use! He's too strong!" Mimi shrieked, hers and TK's eyes widening as Myotismon skulked over to them.

Sora was about to spring into action, knowing she was the only one left who could do anything, when Tai began to sit up despite the pain rushing through his shoulder.

"I…have to…do this," he gasped, reaching for his lightsaber with his non-injured arm. He fumbled with it for a second before finally wrapping his hand around it. "I'm…the…only…one left."

"No! You can't go out there in your condition, Tai! He almost killed you!" Sora retorted, holding him back.

Tai stumbled a bit as he got to his feet, but managed to keep himself upright, still clutching his injured shoulder.

"I'm responsible for you all," he said. "You said it yourself, Sora. I'm the leader of the group. It's my job to take care of all of you."

"No, Tai! I won't let you! I couldn't live with myself if Myotismon killed you. My decision is final!"

"WHY CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND, SORA?"

Those words. Sora flashed back to when she told her mother off with the exact same words. She realized that her mother's intent wasn't her wanting to control Sora's life, but instead she was looking after her to prevent her from getting hurt anymore. She finally understood now.

A mixture of blinding orange and red light glowed from their arms. A feeling in the bottom of their stomachs rose to spread throughout their bodies. Never before had Tai and Sora felt this much power.

Tai's shoulder began to tingle as he felt Sora's hand touch it. He looked down to see the hole slowly closing up. Within an instant, it was like it was never there. The searing pain in his shoulder also disappeared.

"Sora, you healed me," he said. "That's your greater power: the power to heal."

Sora went wide-eyed when she saw that he was right. His injury was gone, and it was because of her. She didn't say anything in response, only staring at her hand in surprise.

"What is going on here?" Myotismon demanded, stunned at this turn of events.

Tai smirked. He clutched his saber with two hands, preparing to charge directly at the vampire.

"Let me show you the true power of the Jedi of Courage, Myotismon," he said as he charged, this time with more control and patience.

Myotismon raised his saber to block the incoming attack, but the blinding orange light from Tai's symbol distracted him. This enabled the boy to land some hard strikes, scratching the vampire on his arm, chest, and leg. Even when Myotismon tried to defend against them, he couldn't. It was as if the attacks were indefensible.

With one last slash to his side, Tai used the Force to shove the vampire back.

"Come on, guys!" he cried. "Let's get out of here!"

"Grr! I'll get you next time, Destined Jedi!" Myotismon cried, holding his side as the children ran far away from the plain.

* * *

It took an hour for the Destined Jedi to get over the nearest mountain. Once they did, they settled near a stream, still taking in what they experienced. This was going to be much tougher than they thought it would be.

"You idiot!" Matt scolded Tai with a smack on the head. "How could you be so reckless like that? You said it yourself, Tai, whatever happens here in the Digital World still has an effect on the real world. That includes what happens to us."

"Yeah, I know," Tai muttered in a low voice, his head hung in shame. "I don't know why I thought that. I _am_ an idiot, but I didn't want that creep to harm any of you. I'm the leader, and I need to act like it."

He then turned to look at Sora, who was watching the stream churn and babble along.

"If it weren't for Sora, I would have been a goner. She finally managed to unlock her true power."

She turned to smile at him. "When you were in trouble, it sparked something in me. I realized that I was acting just like my mother. You know, my mom loved me all along."

Tai smiled back. "And it was because of your healing powers that I feel like a new man, Sora. You saved my neck. It was also because of you that I finally fully bonded with my saber crystal."

The moment was interrupted as a dark cloud came over the entire area, with a familiar chilling laugh echoing loudly like thunder.

"Prepare yourselves, Destined Jedi!" Myotismon's voice rang. "You think you've escaped me for now, but just you wait. My power is beyond your imagination, and soon you will get a taste of it!"

The battle was only just beginning, and the kids knew it.

* * *

 **Whoa man! That was intense. Will the Destined Jedi succeed or will they fail? Find out next time.**

 **Tsk tsk tsk, Tai. You should have known better than to run into that thinking you were an avatar in a video game. It worked out in a funny way though because it got him and Sora to bond with their crystals and unlock greater power. The two of them are, in my opinion, what best friends should look to be. Friendship goals XD**

 **Anyway, leave a review and keep hitting that favorite/follow button like draco1221 did. I appreciate it, pal. See you guys next time.**


	23. The Gateway To Home

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yup. We'll see if that certain leader does learn in a later story, but for now at least Tai did learn.**

 **Music Chick: Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, that could be an indication going forward, but we will see.**

 **Ratchet McCloud: Glad to hear from you, Ratchet. Maybe not now, but we will see going forward what becomes of those two. Hope you continue to review going forward.**

* * *

 **Hope you all are well and ready for this new chapter that is coming your way. Now that they have met Myotismon, how will the Destined Jedi stop him? Find out here. We also are introduced to a new familiar face in this chapter, which I'm sure you guys know who. One thing I will warn you about is I combined episodes 27 and 28 into this chapter because I felt separating the two would be a waste of time.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

The wind blew gently across Tai's face as he meditated in the treetops. The peacefulness of the stream churning combine with the wind made him feel completely at ease as he reflected on the last few hours.

Just like how Frodo could still feel the Nazgûl's blade after Weathertop, his body refused to forget about it. His hand gently touched his shoulder, the skin feeling like a bad sunburn as the heat of the lightsaber going through it radiated in his mind.

' _That pain was nothing I had ever experienced before,'_ Tai thought as he continued meditating. _'It actually felt real, like it was affecting my real body. I guess Gennai was right when he meant everything that happens here has an effect on the real world, including our bodies.'_

Just as Tai had finally started to feel his mind go blank, Izzy's voice called up to him.

"Tai, you better get down from there," he said, an urgent tone in his voice. "Gennai's here, and he wants to speak to all of us."

Opening his eyes, a brief spell of disorientation came over Tai from having them closed for so long. Once it passed, he looked down to his younger companion.

"Ok, I'll be right down," he replied, jumping down to land on his feet with a soft thud.

Izzy led him back to the others, who had gathered around a Force apparition of the old man.

"Good morning, children," he said, his gravelly voice sounding like smooth sandpaper on the children's ears. "I have news for all of you. I have finally discovered the location of the eighth Destined Jedi."

Everyone gasped excitedly. It was about time they heard some news about who this mysterious eighth Destined Jedi could be. They could use all the help they can get against Myotismon.

"Well, who is it?" Tai asked, anticipation brewing within him as he hoped to finally attach a face to the figure of his visions.

"I'm sorry, but I don't know any specifics," replied Gennai, which nearly caused everyone to anime fall. "What I do know is that this person lives in Japan. The Tokyo area, more specifically."

"That's where we're from," said Joe, a relieved smile etching across his face. "Is that all you wanted to tell us?"

The old man's face fell. "Unfortunately, no. I also have some bad news. Myotismon has also located the child as well. He's gathering his forces for an invasion of Tokyo in hopes of finding the child and killing him before you all find him first."

"How do you know it's a 'him'?" asked Sora.

"Like I said, I don't know the specifics," replied Gennai. "Your job is to find the gate and stop Myotismon from going to the real world. If my calculations are correct, it's right in the belly of Myotismon's castle. Good luck, and may the Force be with you."

The old man disappeared before their eyes, leaving the children with a lot of food for thought. As much as they wanted to stay far away from Myotismon, they knew they had no choice. The fate of the Digi-World and their world rested on their shoulders.

* * *

After spending some time to gather supplies and meditate to get themselves prepared for what they would encounter, the Destined Jedi set off to find Myotismon's castle. Wandering through the mountains proved to be no easy task as Mimi and TK tripped up several times, suffering bruises and skinned knees in the process.

The dark clouds looming overhead seemed to get even darker until it almost could be considered night, even though it was three o'clock in the afternoon. They continued to climb, determined to complete their mission.

"Hopefully we can get back home ahead of Myotismon and find this eighth Jedi before he does," said Matt, who carried TK on his back after his last fall. "Who knows what could happen if we don't."

"I don't like it either, Matt," Tai replied. "But we'll find a way. We always do."

Sora smiled at his words. Now that she fully understood why her mother was the way she was, she couldn't wait to get back home and see her again. She had to apologize and have the past be the past.

No one talked for the next half hour, with nothing but the thoughts in their heads to keep themselves company. There was nothing to talk about as they all thought about what it would be like back at home for them. Even though he had been there a couple days ago, Tai still missed his parents and hoped that Kari was now okay since he left her on the sidewalk.

A cry from Mimi snapped everyone out of their induced silence.

"Look, there it is!" she cried, pointing up ahead.

Everyone followed her finger and gasped at what they saw. If ever there was a picture of what Dracula's castle would look like in real life, they just saw it. All that was missing was lightning flashing and thunder crashing. It had the Gothic elements and the scare factor in its corner.

"How did you pick that one out, Mimi?" asked Joe.

"Because it's big, creepy, and the only castle around for miles," Mimi replied, a cold chill shooting down her spine.

Tai sensed the nervous energy going through the group.

"Come on, guys. We can't go back now," he said in a reassuring voice. "Especially since we're so close. Let's finish this once and for all."

His words seemed to do the trick as everyone began to feed off of his courage. Despite their fears, they followed him towards the giant castle.

* * *

Surrounded only by candlelight, which did little to light the large, dark room, Myotismon meditated, surrounded by the quiet of his private quarters. While his servants prepared the gate for their departure to the new world, he needed to mentally prepare for what he was about to do. It will not be easy finding that eighth child.

The Destined Jedi were more powerful than he gave them credit for; he almost had them in his clutches, but the Jedi of Love unlocked her greater powers to help the Jedi of Courage injure him enough to allow their escape.

The vampire snickered to himself. The next time they ran into him, the eighth Destined Jedi will be dead and they will never fulfill the prophecy. The Digital World would belong to him as its unquestioned ruler, and then he would kill the rest of the children one at a time.

' _Those fools think they'll win, but just they wait.'_

"My lord," DemiDevimon's voice interrupted his meditation. "The soldiers are ready to move out at your command."

Myotismon opened his eyes, his pupils dilating as they adjusted to the candlelight, before replying, "Very good. Are they worthy of me?"

"Yes, my master."

A low, cold chuckle filled the room as a new face entered the room.

"You want to call that an army, then I am a house cat."

Out of the shadows, a white cat stepped into the candlelight. It spoke in a sneering voice as it looked at DemiDevimon with an amused expression in its cold blue eyes. While its whole body was white, it had some small traces of purple on the tips of its ears and tail. Yellow green gloves with orange stripes like those of a tiger covered its paws, tipped with razor sharp claws at the end. A ring also adorned the end of its tail.

DemiDevimon growled at the new arrival.

"Shut up, Gatomon!" he roared. "You think you can do any better?"

"With my paws tied, you little bowling ball," she retorted.

"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

"That's enough," Myotismon ordered, his temples beginning to bulge with the arguing. He massaged them as he turned to the cat. "Gatomon, don't waste your time on him. Have you done what I asked?"

"Yes, my lord," Gatomon nodded, bowing before the vampire. "Perrr your instructions, I found the most ferocious Digimon that I could find. You'll be very pleased with them."

"Very good. I look forward to meeting them. You two are dismissed."

With sharp bows, Gatomon and DemiDevimon left the study. The diminutive bat glared at her while she slipped him a sly smirk as they walked out.

From behind the bookcase, a ghost emerged. It was the prototypical look of what one would expect a ghost to look like, but had big black eyes and a wide mouth that exposed its sharp teeth.

"What is it, Bakemon?" Myotismon asked.

"We've prepared the room, and it's ready for your inspection, Lord Myotismon," the ghost replied.

A smile returned to Myotismon's face. The time had now come to set his plan into action. He removed a whole section of books from a shelf to reveal a secret lock, which after a few strokes of his hands opened the secret passageway behind the bookcase.

Darkness only grew as he descended down the stairwell, going deep into the heart of his castle, until he reached the bottom. What laid down here was his key to victory.

Many other Bakemon were in the dimly lit, cavernous room made entirely of rock. At the far end of the room, two gigantic, Gothic doors loomed over the entire room. Myotismon's smile only grew wider as he noticed the ghost Digimon cleaning the floor.

Seeing the vampire enter the room, the Bakemon instantly cleared out as Myotismon moved towards a stone tablet near the side wall from the gate. His lips curled into a victorious sneer, exposing his fangs.

"If you don't mind me asking, Lord Myotismon," the lone Bakemon said. "What is this room for?"

"The legends foretold of this gate being the passage to the other world," Myotismon chuckled, his smile growing ever wider. "Soon, we will be free to move on to the human realm. Once we do, we will find the eighth Jedi and kill him before he can join those other brats."

* * *

Joe was starting to get nervous. His skin crawled as the group made their way through Myotismon's castle, sensing something watching them amongst the shadows. With every step he took, his fear only grew.

Throughout their journey, he had improved leaps and bounds from where he had started, but it didn't mean he was all the way better. His pessimism still flashed through on occasion, and this was one of those times.

"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" he whispered loudly, not wanting to alert any of Myotismon's servants to their presence. Their footsteps echoed through the hall.

"You're being paranoid, Joe," Matt whispered back, shushing him. "Now keep quiet, unless you want to announce to the whole castle that we're here."

The boy got quiet real fast after that. Joe stayed silent the rest of the time as the group continued through the dark halls.

A noise up ahead caught their attention. Voices began to reach the kids' ears, sounding like soldiers about to go to war. As the Jedi moved further and further down the hall, they got louder with each step. When they reached the end of the corridor, the group stayed out of sight but peeked around the corner to see what was going on.

"This is going to be fun! The human world won't know what hit it."

"Yeah! Let's go kick some!"

Several large Digimon, larger than many of the ones that the Destined Jedi had seen so far, were making their way down the next corridor, presumably towards the gate. The group stayed hidden as the Digimon passed out of sight.

"Where do you think they're going?" TK piped up quietly, not wanting to take the chance that the Digimon could still hear them.

"Maybe they know where the gate is," replied Tai. "Come on. Let's follow them."

As quiet as shadows on the wall, the Destined Jedi followed the contingent of Digimon. A chill ran down their collective spines, knowing that what lay ahead of them was the test of their lives.

* * *

"By opening this gate, we take the first step towards our destiny," Myotismon said as he rallied his army before opening the gate. "The Destined Jedi will be no more once we destroy that eighth Jedi! When that happens, we will conquer the rest of the Digital World. The entire universe shall belong to us!"

A loud cheer rang through the entire room, everyone hanging on every single one of Myotismon's words. Unbeknownst to them, Myotismon did not intend to share his victory with them. Once he finished his mission, everyone else was expendable at his disclosure.

Myotismon looked down at a pile of cards that were stacked to the side of the stone tablet. It had taken him a long time to figure out how to use these cards, but now he knew the mystery behind them. Nothing was going to stand in his way.

Taking one last look at them, his evil smile grew even wider until it looked like a Cheshire cat's. He shut his eyes as he concentrated on the Force. The cards levitated and circled around until they landed face down in their proper order. Almost immediately, the gate began to open, unleashing a bright, blue light into the dark room.

His servants watched with awed expressions, excitement bursting from them as they prepared to move on to the next world.

Gatomon raised her paw like a general directing an army.

"Company, move!" she ordered as the group of large Digimon made their way through the gate.

Myotismon moved towards his carriage, which had been prepared for his departure. He was just about to enter it when a determined voice stopped him.

"Hold it right there!"

As the vampire turned to look at the one who called out to him, he saw all seven Destined Jedi running down the stairs, lightsabers activated and ready for action. A smirk graced his lips, knowing that they were too late to stop him.

"It's too late, Destined Jedi," he sneered. "The gate has already been opened. My army is searching for the eighth Jedi as we speak."

"We'll see about that," Tai retorted, charging towards the vampire when a small burst of Force lightning hit him. His pained screams echoed off the rock walls as the electricity surged through him.

"DemiDevimon, take care of these pests for me," ordered Myotismon as he lowered his hand before climbing into the carriage. "Farewell, Destined Jedi. My destiny awaits."

The children watched helplessly as the carriage flew into the gate. They had failed to stop Myotismon from going to their world. DemiDevimon smirked victoriously, ready to put the squeeze on the group.

"You kids can't win now," he sneered. "It's useless to resist!"

"Not if we can help it, you little runt!" Tai growled, his body still smarting from the Force lightning, but still having enough energy to slash the air in front of the diminutive bat.

"Hey! Watch that thing!"

"We don't have time for this," Matt groaned, using the Force to send DemiDevimon crashing face first into the wall near them. "Now let's go!"

The group ran for the gate as if their lives depended on it. Not just their lives, but the lives of the eighth Jedi and countless others back in the real world as well. Before they could get far, a small white blur kicked Joe in the side of the head, sending him to the ground. Before the others could react, Matt, Izzy, and Tai fell as well with the blur landing in front of the goggle-headed leader.

"If you think I'm letting you through, you're out of your minds, Destined Jedi," it chuckled.

Tai groaned slightly as he looked up at the one who was taunting them. His eyes widened in realization when it hit him that he recognized the cat that loomed over him with an evil smirk on her face.

"You!" he cried. "I've seen you before."

This declaration caught Gatomon by surprise.

"That's impossible," she denied. "We've never met. How can you have seen me before?"

"I saw you in a vision I had once," Tai explained. "You will be a key to discovering the eighth Jedi."

Gatomon frowned before sprinting towards the gate.

"Well you're wrong. I'm going to destroy the Jedi when I find him. Ta-ta."

"Come back here, you evil little kitty!"

But Gatomon made it through the gate just as it was about to close, giving the boy an obscene gesture before it closed all the way. Tai was moving so fast that he didn't have time to stop himself before he ran right into the gate.

"Ouch!" he cried as his head made contact with a loud 'bang.' Matt and Sora caught him as he fell back. Within a second, he started banging on the gate, his desperation growing with each slam of his fist against the metal.

"Open up! Open up!" he yelled. "Damn it!"

* * *

The other Destined Jedi sat, licking their wounds from their failure to stop Myotismon from passing through the gate, while Tai continued to slam his fist against the gate. It felt like it was the end of the world because of their failure.

"What do we do now?" Sora asked as she surveyed the looks on her companions' faces, defeated and unsure of what was next.

No one answered her question. TK twirled his finger in the dirt while everyone else sat with depressed looks.

"It's useless!" Tai growled, ceasing his assault on the gate. He plopped down on the ground with a slam of his fist. "Damn!"

The defeated silence fell over everyone, lasting for several minutes as they thought about their next plan of action. Now that Myotismon was in the real world, they had to find a way to get through the gate themselves. But how?

While everyone else continued thinking, Izzy got up to examine the tablet nearby. There were nine card-sized holes in the tablet with star patterns on each row. The top row had one star; the middle, two; and the bottom row had three. What purpose did they serve? On top of that, there were different characters on top of the rows. A lion, an archer, and a monkey face

' _Three rows, and ten cards,'_ he thought as he analyzed the cards in his hands. _'That means one of these cards is fake, but which one?'_

"I've got it!"

Everyone snapped out of their depressed silence long enough to glance over at the computer genius.

"Got what, Izzy?" asked Joe.

"Come check this out, everyone," Izzy replied.

Their curiosity got the better of them as the kids joined him at the tablet. One look at it and their minds went completely blank with confusion. They had no idea what they were looking at.

"What's this?" Tai asked.

"I'm trying to figure that out, but I believe that it has to do with these cards," said Izzy, showing them all the cards. "Since there's the nine holes and ten cards, that means that one of these cards is a fake."

"A fake?" Matt echoed.

Izzy nodded. "Yes, a fake. So let's see what order the cards go in."

Looking through the cards, he noticed that every card had a different Digimon on it. He recognized Gomamon and Agumon right away, along with Andromon, but he didn't recognize many of the others.

"Having trouble, my young friends?"

Everyone jumped in surprise, giving small screams as Gennai appeared behind them.

"Gennai! Don't do that!" Tai growled.

"What are you doing here?" asked Matt. "I thought you couldn't follow us into the castle."

"I can't. But since Myotismon has disappeared, I was able to pierce through the dark energy for a short time," the old man replied. "I don't have long, so I'm going to be very brief. In order to be transported back to the real world, you must know the correct pattern of the cards. One mistake, and you will be sent to a different dimension."

"Different dimension?" everyone echoed nervously.

"That's right. So choose carefully. One hint I will give you is that Digimon can be classified as Data, Virus, and Vaccine types. The Force will guide you to the right answer, but only if you believe in yourselves. Good luck, children. We're depending on you."

Gennai's signal then disappeared, leaving the Destined Jedi with more questions than answers. They appreciated Gennai's attempt at helping them, but it only made things that much more confusing.

"So it depends on what their classification is," Joe said as it dawned on him what Gennai meant. "Izzy, pull out your laptop."

The computer genius did as instructed and started looking through the Digimon files that Gennai had downloaded to his computer. Scrolling through several of them, he noticed that the bad ones they've run into were virus types, others such as Digitamamon were data types, and the others were vaccine types by process of elimination.

There was only one problem left.

"Which one of the cards is fake?"

Tai glanced between the cards of Gomamon and Agumon discriminately. Maybe he could use the Force to sense which one was fake. He shut his eyes and cleared his mind to concentrate on the cards. Unfortunately, he couldn't feel any energy radiating off of the cards. He would have to just take a guess.

"Tai, hurry up and make a decision! Myotismon is going to find the eighth Jedi if we don't get back!" Mimi shrieked. "I want to go home!"

"Don't rush me!" he snapped back before turning back to the cards. After a few more seconds, he finally made his decision.

He threw the Gomamon card onto the left corner hole on the tablet. With all nine cards lined up in their proper order, the gate began to open. Once the doors opened wide, the group did not waste time and sprinted towards the gate. One by one, they all shut their eyes and flung themselves into the gate.

Where they would land on the other side was all in the hands of fate.

* * *

 **Where did they end up? Did they get back to the real world? Find out on the next episode of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Like I said at the beginning, I just combined episodes 27 and 28 into one chapter because I felt that it was necessary for the story. In the series, it was to finally introduce us to the real Gennai, but in this story we've already met him so it would be more like going backwards than forwards with the story.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe because things are about to get very interesting now. I've been waiting five months, since the beginning of this story, to get started on this next arc. I'm so excited! Catch you all later ;-)**


	24. Return to Hikarigaoka

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: You'll find out why soon.**

 **Music Chick: Glad you liked it. All that additional dialogue drives me crazy, like 'Just get to the point!'**

* * *

 **Welcome all to yet another chapter of Destined Jedi. Hope you all are enjoying the story as we start getting into some pretty cool stuff coming up.**

 **Went and saw Future on Thursday night...and cried my eyes out as 'Butterfly' played over the end. I knew it was coming but when it came down to it, I wasn't ready to let go just yet. At least we only have to wait a year to see them again. Thank you, Tri, for getting me back into Digimon and these amazing characters. There were some things I didn't like, but they will be addressed and done better in Revenge of the Infected (the third story in this trilogy). Dropping hints for ya ;-)**

 **Anyway, excuse my rambling. Let's get to the story. Where did the kids end up landing? Find out...now!**

* * *

Matt groaned as he shifted on the ground. His head throbbed so much that it felt like a nail had been driven through it. His eyes opened slowly before the bright sunlight forced him to cover them. He finally started to register what was around him.

The seat of his pants was wet, along with a cold feeling shooting up through his bare arms. Taking a look at his outstretched arm, he saw that it was buried in snow. Wait, snow? Were they back?

"Where are we?" he heard Tai say.

Joe then chimed in. "This is the shrine where we took shelter from the snow," he said. "That means we're back at camp. We made it!"

Mimi was so happy that she let out wails of happiness. As Matt surveyed the landscape, it hit him. Joe was right. They were back in the real world: The shrine, the forest, the far-off mountains, all of it was the same as it had been when they were sent to the Digi-World.

A smile crept its way onto Matt's face as he saw TK on the ground not too far from him.

"You ok, little buddy?" he asked as he helped the boy up from the ground.

TK nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Glad we're back."

"Me too."

"Hey, Tai. How did you know that the Agumon card was the fake?" Sora asked.

"I didn't," the boy replied with a goofy grin. "I just wanted to keep the card."

Everyone groaned loudly.

"You idiot," Sora chuckled with a roll of her eyes. Even in the most pressure-packed situations, Tai still couldn't keep his mind focused on one thing.

After taking a few minutes to get their excitement of being back in the real world out of their system, the Destined Jedi gathered around to make a plan to find Myotismon before he found the eighth Jedi.

"Okay, gang, we've got to find a way to get to Hikarigaoka and stop Myotismon before he can find the eighth Jedi," said Tai.

"I wonder how much of a head start he has on us," wondered Sora. "If he's far enough ahead, then we've got a lot of catching up to do."

"That may be, but remember that not even a minute has passed since he went through the gate and we did," said Izzy. "Time flows at a different pace in the Digi-World than it does here."

"That's right," Matt echoed with a nod. "We've been gone for months there, but here it's the same minute on the same day that we left."

"That's impossible," Joe said, unable to wrap his head around that fact. It was too unbelievable. "You mean all those adventures took no longer than, say, getting a haircut or a run to the convenience store?"

Before anyone could reply, Tai made a break for the stairs that curved down away from the shrine.

"Tai, where are you going?" Sora called after him.

"I'm going to go and see how much time has really passed," he called back. "One of you come with me, the rest stay here."

When he turned to see which one of them volunteered, Tai was surprised to see all six of them following him.

"I said one volunteer, not six."

Izzy was the first to speak up. "We're all interested in seeing what's gone on since we've left."

The others nodded in confirmation. Tai brought a hand to his face, sighing in exasperation.

"All right," he said. "But let's not-"

"Kids! Oh, kids!"

The group looked up as an older, male voice called out to them. Coming up over the hill, they could see the figure that the voice belonged to running towards them.

Their eyes widened in recognition.

"Mr. Fujiyama!" Sora cried as their teacher got closer to them.

Tai ran to greet him, but was almost run over by the man as he slid to a stop. Tai lost his balance and fell on his bottom with Mr. Fujiyama looming over him.

Mr. Fujiyama was a tall, slender man in his mid-thirties. Just like Joe, he wore sleek glasses on his well-chiseled face. He wore a lilac sports jacket over a yellow undershirt and blue jeans. Despite his sometimes buffoonish behavior, he was beloved by most of the students at Odaiba Elementary.

"Why are you kids playing around?" he asked manically. "You haven't even packed up your gear yet. Didn't you hear? We're closing up camp because of the snow. Everyone else is ready to go."

"W-we can explain, sir," said Tai, struggling to come up with an explanation on the fly. "Of course we heard. We were just wanting to pay our respects at the shrine."

For a second, it looked like Mr. Fujiyama was going to buy that explanation, but then his eyes locked on the lightsaber on his waist. Not just Tai's, but he also glanced among the other Destined Jedi as well. The symbols on their arms also caught his attention.

"What are those?" he asked sternly. "Where'd you get 'em?"

"What are you talking about, sir?" Tai replied innocently, trying to play dumb.

"Those things on your waists and the tattoos on your arms."

Joe was the first to speak up for once. "They're our toy lightsabers that we brought with us to camp. We were wanting to imagine we were Jedi while running through the forest."

"That doesn't explain the symbols, Joe," Mr. Fujiyama looked at him suspiciously. Joe struggled to come up with an explanation when Tai stepped in to save the day.

"We wanted to easily identify ourselves so we drew these symbols on our arms," he said through a forced smile. "They're just from markers. Nothing sinister there."

Several tense seconds passed, and Mr. Fujiyama's face did not change. The kids stood nervously, waiting to see if that was enough to convince him.

Finally, his face softened and a smile graced his features.

"Ah, to be young," he sighed. "I remember when that first came out when I was your age. I was just as obsessed with Star Wars as you all are now. I understand you wanted to have fun, but now's the time to go. Meet you at the bus, ok?"

"Ok," the kids replied as their teacher ran off.

Once he was out of sight, they all gave a collective sigh of relief.

"I thought we were goners for a second there," said Matt.

"That was good thinking, Tai," Sora chimed in. "Telling him that our symbols were just from marker."

"Hey! I told him that we were just playing around," Joe complained, wanting recognition for his part.

"Keep your pants on, Joe," said Tai, patting the boy on the shoulder. "Let's go get our stuff together and head to the bus. We need to get back to the city to stop Myotismon."

Everyone nodded in agreement before splitting off to the campsite to collect their belongings. Even though in the real world it had only been a few minutes since they were there, it had been months since the Destined Jedi had seen any of the other things they had not taken with them to the Digital World.

After taking a few minutes to make sure that they had everything, the Destined Jedi ran off towards the parking lot, where four or five buses sat parked and ready to leave.

A large crowd of children stood patiently, talking amongst each other, as they waited to get on to go back home. Some were disappointed that the camp was cut short while others were thankful to go back home quickly. The group fell into the latter category.

Mimi ran straight towards some people she recognized, which caused the others to wince at her friends' bewildered expressions as she embraced them. She knew that no time had passed; if she wasn't careful, she was going to give them away.

"So how are we going to get to Hikarigaoka?" Izzy raised the question on everyone's mind.

"Let me handle that," replied Tai, making his way to their teacher. "Mr. Fujiyama. Can you have the bus drop us off somewhere?"

"No can do, Tai," the older male shook his head firmly. "The rules say I must take you straight to your homes."

"Please, sir, I'm begging you. Can you just drop us off near Hikarigaoka Park?"

"Hikarigaoka Park? Why do you want to go there?"

"Well the gang and I used to live there and we started feeling nostalgic while talking about it, so we wanted to go back there."

"But it's against the rules."

The bus driver then jumped into the conversation.

"You know, I think we drive pretty close to Hikarigaoka on the way back," he said before looking over the route on his clipboard. After a few seconds, he nodded in confirmation. "Yup, Hikarigaoka is within walking distance from where we'll be."

Tai smiled appreciatively. "Great, then that's where you can drop us off, mister."

"Hold on! I didn't give the bus driver permission yet," said Mr. Fujiyama angrily.

An idea came to Tai's mind on how to convince him. With a smirk slowly rising on his lips and a wave of his hand, he said, "You _will_ give him permission to drop us off."

Almost at the flick of a switch, Mr. Fujiyama's whole demeanor changed. His irked expression relaxed and his posture became more rigid.

"I give you my permission to drop them off," he said monotonously, which earned a surprised look from the bus driver.

"We'll be fine," Tai continued.

"The children will be fine."

"Have a nice day."

"Have a nice day." Mr. Fujiyama repeated as he walked away.

The kids desperately tried to hide their snickers as Mr. Fujiyama walked out of earshot, but were failing miserably as Tai pounded the ground in hysterics.

"I've always wanted to do that," he gasped.

"Well, it worked because we're going to find Myotismon before he finds the eighth child," said Sora as the group got on the bus with the others.

* * *

The noise from all the traffic below was beginning to give Gatomon a headache, not to mention the heat was making her fur all frizzy. Who knew that the human world would be this cluttered and noisy? All day, she and the rest of Myotismon's army searched far and wide for the eighth Destined Jedi but had no luck in finding him.

Because of his sensitivity to sunlight, Myotismon couldn't join them in their search, so Gatomon was left on her own. With every single child that passed her way, she couldn't get one whiff of Force energy. It was starting to become frustrating. She had no idea that there were this many human children in one place.

While on a rooftop, Gatomon looked down below to see a group of buses stopping and letting a group of children off. Her blue eyes widened when she saw that it was the Destined Jedi. They had somehow managed to get past the gate back into the real world.

' _Those kids are becoming a real annoyance,'_ she thought with an annoyed hiss. _'Oh well. I guess I'll just leave Mammothmon to deal with them.'_

* * *

"Now just be sure to call your parents and let them know where you are," said Mr. Fujiyama after the last of the Destined Jedi exited the bus.

"Yes, sir," they all replied as the door closed. The children watched as the buses drove away until they blended in with the Tokyo traffic.

Matt gave a discomforted sigh. "Man, I forgot just how hot it can get in Tokyo in the summer," he said, wiping the sweat on his brow as the humidity bore down on them like a heavy blanket.

"At least we know that's normal for now," replied Joe. "Compared to the rest of the world."

"Come on, guys. There's no time to start musing about the weather," said Tai, urgency dripping from his voice. "We've got to find the eighth child before Myotismon does."

"Right."

Walking along the blazing streets of Hikarigaoka, memories of their time here started to come back to the Destined Jedi. They were surprised to learn that they all had lived there four years ago. Tai and Sora were in the same class at the same elementary school, which Matt had also attended.

As they passed a convenience store that they had fond memories of, Izzy started to feel something nagging at the back of his mind.

"I have no real memory of living here," he breathed, which quickly got everyone's attention.

"What do you mean, Izzy?" Tai asked. "How long did you live here?"

"Not very long; only six months," the boy replied. "It wasn't long enough to really remember things. All I know is that after a certain period of time, my family moved to Odaiba without a specific reason."

"You're kidding, right?" Joe gasped, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I know why Izzy's family left."

"How do you know that?" asked Sora. "Did you know Izzy's family or something, Joe?"

Joe shook his head. "No, I didn't, but I did see what happened. Four years ago, there was a terrorist bombing, which caused most of the families that lived here to pack up and leave out of fear."

There were a few gasps, but Tai looked at Joe with a disbelieving glare. Something about his theory didn't sound right.

"Are you sure you're not confusing that for the sarin gas attack?" he asked.

"No, this one was different."

"Come to think of it, I don't remember this one," said Izzy.

"I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP!" Joe screamed, which caused a dead silence to cast itself over the group for several seconds. The group had gotten a taste of Joe losing his temper while in the Digital World, but it still surprised them.

"Jeez, Joe, calm down," Tai said, an annoyed tone in his voice at Joe's outburst. "Keep your pants on."

Clearing his throat with a loud cough, Joe quickly apologized for his outburst before continuing with his explanation.

"Unlike in that other terrorist attack, the government never found the group responsible but the psychological damage had been done. Many families moved away because they were afraid that it could happen again, including my own. That's why we moved to Odaiba."

Both Tai and Sora's eyes widened in realization.

"Now that you mention it, my parents were freaked out that whole time," said Tai as the memories of that time started to come back to him. A lot of times, he was woken up by the sounds of his parents' conversations late at night. He was only seven at the time, so he didn't understand what was being talked about.

"Me too," echoed Sora. "A lot of my friends left after that."

Sirens started blaring out along the street as a squad of four police cars flew by. The loudness of the sirens caused the group to wince as they came by them. Not only that, but the children sensed something big was nearby.

"You guys feel that too?" Tai asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Then let's go!"

With Tai in the lead, the Destined Jedi ran down the street as they followed where the police cars were going. One by one, they activated their lightsabers in preparation for the fight they knew was coming.

A trumpeting sound echoed across the street, sounding like an elephant calling other elephants in Africa. It was a peculiar sound to hear because last time the group checked, there were no wild elephants in the Tokyo area.

"You guys heard that, right?" said Tai as they continued running.

"I hope not," Mimi gasped, her legs straining from the brisk pace.

As they rounded a corner, nothing could prepare the group for what they were about to see. A large, wooly mammoth-like creature was rampaging through the streets, leaving nothing but destruction in its wake: cars overturned or crushed, gaping holes in the pavement so deep that the kids could almost see clear down to the sewer.

"I thought those things went extinct!" Joe cried, his eyes bulging wide open that they almost knocked off his glasses.

Without a second of hesitation, the Destined Jedi charged towards the mammoth. Without ceasing his running stride, Tai used the Force to throw a nearby motorcycle towards Mammothmon.

The large creature took notice of their presence as the motorcycle crashed against its hide. It let out an angry roar as it turned to look at them. Before the children could do anything, Mammothmon fired its tusks towards them like a pair of missiles.

Tai, Matt, and Izzy dodged the attack easily as it collided with the ground, while the others barely got away. All except for TK: he was blown back into the side of a parked car, hitting it with a sickening thud.

"TK!" Matt cried, running to his little brother's aid as the others engaged Mammothmon. He got there in the blink of an eye with his enhanced speed. "Are you all right?"

TK shook himself out to get rid of the shock from the hit before answering his brother. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

As Matt looked the boy over, he couldn't see anything serious aside from a couple red marks on his upper back. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"There were two of them."

Matt gave the boy a confused look. He didn't know what TK was talking about.

"What do you mean, buddy?" he asked.

"There were two monsters fighting," TK said again.

It just then occurred to Matt what TK was talking about. Four years ago, after the alleged terrorist attack happened, the younger blonde kept insisting to their mother that he saw monsters. Their mother shrugged it off as him simply imagining things, which led Matt to believe that as well. Now he knew he wasn't lying.

"Guys! We could use a little help here!" Tai cried as he and the others attempted to keep Mammothmon at bay for as long as they could.

The two brothers nodded to each other before jumping back into the fight. They barely avoided another attack from the mammoth as Matt moved to assist Joe and Izzy while TK moved to Tai and Sora.

"Man, this guy is tough." Tai grunted as he used the Force to throw a nearby lamppost at the creature, barely fazing it as it continued to wreak havoc on the street. It then launched another tusk missile attack, this time right towards the bridge above the three Jedi.

"Watch out!" Tai cried as he forced Sora and TK to the ground before laying over them as portions of the bridge collapsed around them.

Using this distraction to her advantage, Mimi leapt from the ground onto the mammoth's back. Sensing her presence on top of it, Mammothmon thrashed about to try and throw her off. Despite the jerky motions, Mimi managed to cling onto the fur on its back to stay on.

While Matt and Izzy took care of distracting Mammothmon, Joe rushed to the collapsed portion of the bridge to make sure Tai, TK, and Sora were okay. Using the Force to shove away some of the pieces of debris, he found them in no time.

"Are you guys okay?" he asked, checking everyone over.

"We're okay, Joe," Tai replied with a thumb up, getting off of the other two Jedi so Joe could look at them. He watched as Mimi crawled her way up the creature's back.

If this were a rodeo, Mimi would fit right in with her cowgirl attire as she rode Mammothmon like a bucking bronco. She desperately held her lightsaber tight in her hand as she tried to get onto the creature's back.

Its next buck flung Mimi into the air. Keeping her composure, she tucked her saber into her chest and pointed down towards Mammothmon's back. As the law of gravity took effect, she plunged it into the creature's back. It let out a roar of pain before disintegrating into small particles of data. Before Mammothmon disappeared, Mimi leapt off the beast and landed softly to the ground with a small thud.

"Way to go, Mimi!" Matt smiled with approval.

"It was nothing," she replied modestly.

As they surveyed the damage, the Destined Jedi had a flashback to four years ago with a scene that looked just like this. The two Digimon that they saw that day slowly came back to them. A red lightsaber and a green lightsaber were blurs as they battled up and down the street. One of the creatures then brought down the section of the bridge with one mighty gesture of its hand before they disappeared.

"All of this looks strangely familiar," said Tai. "There were two Digimon that were fighting. I remember the lightsabers clashing, and I remember all the destruction that was caused as a result of the duel. One was a little green guy while the other was lion-like."

Due to that description, everyone gasped in realization.

"That must have been Leomon!" Joe exclaimed. "And the green guy was Ogremon."

"That does make sense," said Matt.

Police sirens once again reached the kids' ears, this time they were heading towards the fallen bridge. They knew that they had little time to act or else they would have to answer questions that they really do not want to answer to the police.

"Do you guys want to continue this discussion somewhere else or at the police station?" asked Sora, getting awfully skittish as the sirens drew closer and closer.

"Somewhere else is definitely better," replied Matt as the group ran as fast as their legs could carry them towards the nearby park, away from all the emergency personnel that were coming.

* * *

After catching their breath for a few moments, Tai continued the conversation they were having before. It finally was starting to come back to him.

"Leomon and Ogremon disappeared after the fight was over," he said. "I remember that Leomon unleashed a powerful Force attack that not only disabled Ogremon, but also took out part of the bridge."

"And the police called it a terrorist bombing," concluded Joe.

"That's right," Izzy nodded. "You guys, I think there was a reason that it was only the seven of us, of all the kids at camp, that were chosen to go to the Digital World. Today, I found out what that reason was."

"We all took French in school?" Mimi guessed.

"No!" Izzy gave her an annoyed look. "Four years ago, we were all living in Hikarigaoka at the same time when Leomon and Ogremon came to the real world and fought. If we saw it, then the eighth Jedi must have seen it as well."

"But what if Myotismon has already found the eighth Jedi already?" Joe jumped in. "He and his goons have been searching the city all day and if the kid is still here, then they're bound to find him."

Everyone looked at him with looks of annoyance. They couldn't believe that he could still be so pessimistic, especially about a situation as dire as this one.

"If Myotismon had found the child already, then that mammoth Digimon would not have been causing such a racket," said Matt. "That means we still have some time. Maybe the kid moved like we did."

"That is a good possibility, Matt," Izzy nodded in agreement. "We have to get back home."

"You're right, Izzy," said Tai. "This kid may even be someone we know. To the train station!"

* * *

 **The heat is really on now. Will the Destined Jedi find the eighth child before Myotismon does? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **For next chapter, I'm going to have them get home in a different way. Don't worry, your favorite cousin of Sora's will still make an appearance, but not in the way that he officially did. You'll see in the next chapter.**

 **Until then, be sure to review and subscribe as you read. You won't want to miss what's coming next.**

 **TTUNW. Ta ta until next weekend ;-)**


	25. Almost Home Free

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Thanks. Yeah, it kinda does remind me of that.**

 **Music Chick: Yup. She's starting to become more sure of herself. We'll see if she continues to do that.**

 **Lord Jaric: Thank you for your review. Much appreciated. Yeah, that was kind of dangerous of him, but what would you do if you were wielding a real lightsaber for the first time? Especially if someone was getting up in your grill. You'd dare them to come at you with your saber drawn, wouldn't you?**

* * *

 **Welcome to another chapter of the Destined Jedi. Time to see if the group can get home and find the eighth Jedi before Myotismon does. Hope you all are well because things are about to get interesting.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Myotismon was growing impatient.

All day, he had sent his minions out to seek the eighth Destined Jedi and destroy them so that the Destined Jedi did not stand in his way anymore. So far, they had no luck and now he learned that the group of children had returned to the real world to search for the eighth child as well. Things were not going according to plan.

His base of operations had been set up deep inside a parking garage that no human could reach unless they drilled through the ground. It was so dark that almost no light could get through even if there was a way for it to enter.

"DemiDevimon!" he roared, calling the diminutive bat into his quarters. The creature arrived in a nanosecond, not wanting to keep Myotismon waiting, lest he risk being tortured with more Force lightning.

"Yes, my lord?" DemiDevimon bowed.

"What is taking so long? Why haven't you found the eighth child yet?"

"This world is a lot bigger than we anticipated, Lord Myotismon," he replied. "There are so many human children that it's almost impossible to single out the eighth Destined Jedi. We're trying as hard as we can. We're looking everywhere: land, air, sea, you name it."

Myotismon's shadow loomed over the diminutive bat. DemiDevimon cringed, expecting the Force lightning to break out at any minute.

"I want that eighth child destroyed!" Myotismon hissed. "The sooner we do that, the sooner we can be rid of those annoying pests, the Destined Jedi. Don't fail me this time, DemiDevimon."

"I promise I won't, Master."

* * *

Inside Hikarigaoka Station, the Destined Jedi were completely beside themselves as they tried to figure out which route to take back to Odaiba. Ever since they moved, none of them had taken the route to Hikarigaoka and back, so they didn't know what the fastest route to take was.

The Tokyo Metro was the most efficient subway system in the world with the trains always arriving and leaving on time. The one problem with the system was there were so many lines going around the city that it could get confusing if one did not know what they were looking for.

"I just hope Myotismon has as much trouble reading this map as I do," said Joe, a lost expression on his face as he looked at the map at the ticket dispenser. So many lines: Oedo, Ginza, Marunouchi, Yurikamome, and other names that were swirling around in his head like the ingredients in a blender. This was so confusing.

"I think I'm getting a headache just from looking at this thing," Mimi groaned as her stomach rumbled. She was so hungry that it felt like she was going to die from hunger at any moment. "Not to mention I'm starving."

Izzy typed away on his computer as he researched what the fastest route would be.

"Aha!" he exclaimed. "I found it. So, the fastest route to Odaiba is for us to take the No. 12 train to Nakano-sakaue and transfer over to the Marunouchi line; then the Ginza line; then transfer over to the Yurikamome line at Shimbashi."

His explanation was met with blank stares.

"Mind running that by me again?" Sora asked.

"So we transfer three times," said Tai as he inserted money into the ticket dispenser. The ticket popped out in a second once he selected what he needed. "Sounds simple enough. Let's go, gang! We have to find the eighth child before Myotismon does."

"Right!"

Once everyone paid their fare and got their tickets, the kids made their way to the platform to wait for the train. After a few moments of waiting, the announcement that the train was arriving broadcasted over the loudspeakers and the train arrived a moment later.

As the doors opened, the kids made their way on silently, taking up a whole row that was empty on the side across from the doors that they entered. They knew it was going to be a while before they arrived at Nakano-sakaue so they settled in for the long trip. It still felt weird to them to be back in their world after being away for months in the Digital World, but they were thankful to be back. If only it didn't have to be under these circumstances.

Matt had put his headphones on and was listening to his tape of the theme song to a popular anime, wanting something to distract him from the dead silence of the train car. He fingered his lightsaber for several moments before finally taking it into his hand to gaze at it, almost as if wanting proof that what they went through was real.

' _Hopefully we can find this eighth kid and get this over with,'_ he thought as he gazed up and down the row to see that the other kids were off in their own little worlds as well. _'What happens if we fail though? A lot of people we love can be seriously hurt. We can't let that happen.'_

"Hey, mister," a young boy's voice cried over his music.

Matt lowered his headphones and paused the tape to give this kid his full attention, even though it was a nuisance to him. Didn't this kid know that it was impolite to talk to others on the subway?

"What's up, kid?" he asked.

"Is that real?"

Matt cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"That lightsaber in your hand," the boy said, pointing towards the metal blade in Matt's palm. "Is it real? It's not one I've ever seen before."

"Why would you think that?" Matt replied, trying to keep his face neutral so that he didn't come off as annoyed. "Stuff like that is only in movies, kid."

He hoped that response was enough for the boy, but he was wrong. The kid immediately turned to his father, who was seated just across from Matt.

"Daddy, I want one!" he cried loudly enough that all the people in the train car turned to look at the scene. "I want that lightsaber! If I don't get one right now, I'll start screaming at the top of my lungs!"

The father was clearly embarrassed as he hushed the boy before approaching Matt.

"Excuse me, young man. May I ask where you bought that toy?" he asked.

The blonde's face paled at the question. The other Destined Jedi watched nervously, afraid that their secret could be let out on the spot.

"W-where I bought it?"

"It shouldn't be that hard of a question," said the man. "Come on. You'd be doing me a huge favor."

Matt racked his brain for the name of a major department store to answer with, but he couldn't think of anything. Just as it looked hopeless, the intercom on the train announced that they were pulling into Nerima station.

"This stop is Nerima," the voice recording said. "Again, this stop is Nerima."

When the train stopped, Matt answered, "The Nerima Department Store!"

After getting his answer, the father and son, along with almost the entire train car, ran out onto the platform, leaving the kids practically alone once the doors closed and no other passengers came on. Once the train left the station, they gave big sighs of relief.

"That was too close," said Tai. "That was good, quick thinking, Matt. Nice work."

"Well, that kid was driving me crazy," replied Matt. "I couldn't just show him that our lightsabers are real. We'd be in big trouble."

Time passed as they rode the train. Eventually, their train pulled into Shimbashi station. They were almost home.

"I'm hungry," Mimi whined after they had pulled off the train. "Can we stop and get something to eat, please?"

"Mimi, we're almost home," Tai snapped. "You can get something when you get back home. Can't you wait?"

"No, I can't!" she retorted.

Joe and Izzy broke off to check the status of their train, but the others didn't seem to notice as they kept on working their way through the large crowds. Shimbashi was very busy at this time of day with thousands of passengers trying to make their connections.

"I'm feeling kinda hungry too," said Matt. "It's been a while since we last ate."

Sora and TK also voiced their hunger, which put Tai in a precarious position. They were almost home; all they needed to do was get on the Yurikamome line and they would be in Odaiba in less than twenty minutes. On the other side, his stomach was rumbling up a storm as well, demanding food immediately. It couldn't wait less than twenty more minutes for food.

"Ok," he sighed, conceding to the others' wishes. "What do you guys want?"

* * *

"WHAT?!" Joe cried.

A notice flashed across the screen in front of him saying that the Yurikamome line was closed for the time being.

"Looks like the Yurikamome line has been shut down for some reason," Izzy explained as Joe's jaw dropped to the floor. "We're going to have to find another way to Odaiba."

"Oh great. Wonderful." Joe drawled with a roll of his eyes. What else could go wrong today? He was so angered by this turn of events that he kicked the air in front of him while letting out an expletive under his breath.

"Let's not go off the deep end, Joe," Izzy tried calming him down before things escalated. The people around them were starting to take notice of the display of disappointment. "Let's find something to eat."

Taking a deep breath, Joe got himself back under control. He did feel hungry, come to think of it, so something to eat was definitely in order. Especially since they were going to have to find another way to Odaiba.

"Ok. If any of you guys find somewhere to eat, give us a shout," he called back behind them, thinking the others were there.

But he couldn't find either Tai's big head of hair, Mimi's hat, or Sora's standing out in the crowd. For a second, he thought that they had just gotten mixed into the crowd, but he couldn't see them at all. This was not good.

"Izzy," he tapped the boy on the shoulder.

"What is it?"

"The other guys. They're gone."

Looking back behind him, Izzy was dismayed to see that Joe was right. Not one of the other Destined Jedi were in sight.

"I can't believe this!" Joe pounded his thigh, wincing from the pain that shot through his leg. "They ditched us!"

"It's all right," Izzy replied, initiating damage control for the second time as Joe started to freak out. "I can sense them nearby. As long as we can sense their Force energy, we will find them."

"I knew this would be one of those days where everything goes wrong," Joe groaned as he paced around in a circle. "From the line being closed to this, we're never going to catch a break."

"Don't be so negative! Come on, let's go find them."

"Whatever you say."

The two Destined Jedi made their way out of the station and into the blasting humidity of the Tokyo summer day. Sweat already gathered on their foreheads just from contact with the hot air alone.

"Where do you sense them, Izzy?" Joe asked as he looked amongst the large crowd of people walking in and out of the station.

Izzy closed his eyes to focus on locking down where he sensed the others' Force energy. After a few seconds, they snapped open. He knew where they were.

"Up one block," he responded. "At the McDonald's on the corner."

The two of them took off towards the other side of the street, knifing their way through the crowd with the precision of a hawk in flight. They made sure not to move too fast, lest they risk revealing their enhanced Force speed to anyone who was paying attention.

Little did the boys suspect that a figure in a large, brown trench coat was also making its way around the block. The bucket hat on its head obscured its face, but a metal jaw barely peeked out from under it.

The figure would have crossed them…if it hadn't been for a group of men moving a painting that provided cover for Joe and Izzy to make their way across the crosswalk without incident.

Moving up the sidewalk, Joe looked up to see the others in a wide window above the McDonald's, eating contently.

"There they are!" he cried.

* * *

Tai couldn't remember the last time he ate food this good. Even though he rarely ate at McDonald's, preferring other places that were, in his opinion, much better than it, he thought it was the most delicious thing in the world as he chewed on his other Big Mac with a handful of fries. Small rations compared to a whole meal to himself were beyond comparison.

The others were also chewing down their food silently as they filled their rumbling stomachs. All of them had gotten two burgers with extra large fries and large drinks due to how hungry they were. It may have seemed a bit excessive to other people around them, but they were so hungry that it was possible their stomachs were about to chew on their arms.

TK looked up from his food to see Joe and Izzy making their way over to the group's table, looking relieved to see them.

"Joe, Izzy," he greeted with a smile. "About time you guys got here."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" said Tai. "Order something."

"How?" Joe responded bitterly. "You guys have got all the money."

"Oops. We spent it all," replied Mimi, which caused Joe's jaw to drop to the floor, giving everyone a glance inside of his open mouth. His face started to turn beet red from anger and frustration. He was so hungry that he was beyond control at this point.

"We were so hungry that we ordered the largest orders that we could," Sora explained with a chuckle in her voice, almost like a kid who was in trouble at school and didn't know what else to do other than laugh about what happened. "Sorry about that."

Her apology did little to quell the growing inferno in Joe's body as his fists shook.

"Great," he began slowly, his voice surprisingly calm. "You spent it all. THAT WAS ALL THE MONEY WE HAD IN THE WORLD!"

His voice was so loud that it caused everyone in the vicinity to stop eating their food and look over. Joe had finally reached the end of his rope.

To everyone's shock, he wove a tapestry of obscenity under his breath as he stomped off towards the restroom. It was loud enough for everyone near them to hear as Joe vented his frustration. Matt quickly covered TK's ears before he could hear anymore of it.

"I had no idea Joe had such a colorful vocabulary," Sora said, her eyes wide in shock.

As the shock wore off, everyone returned to their business. Sora saw that she still had some extra money left and had Izzy get him and Joe some food so that they weren't eating their scraps. Izzy soon returned with two trays of food and set them down as he began eating.

"I've got some bad news," he said after he downed a few more fries. "The Yurikamome line is closed for now, so we can't ride the train back into Odaiba."

Gasps and groans echoed across the table.

"Oh, come on!" Tai growled, pounding the table in frustration. "Can't we catch a break?"

"What do we do now?" asked Mimi.

"We start walking," TK replied. "Since the train's out, we can't go back to the station."

"Sure not looking forward to doing that," Matt uttered as he took a sip of his drink. "It's hot out there and I'd really rather not get a heat stroke."

Joe finally came back to the table at that moment, looking much more calm and levelheaded. When he saw the extra tray of food, he dove into it like a wolf to caribou carcass. He was halfway through his burger before he remembered to breathe.

"Sorry for my outburst, everyone," he apologized, feeling much happier than earlier after a bite to eat. "I didn't mean to lose control like that. What are we talking about?"

"We're deciding whether or not we should walk back to Odaiba," answered Sora. "Since the train into Odaiba is not running, we don't have many options left."

"We could hitchhike," Tai suggested.

Everyone disagreed with that right away. Sure, Japan was one of the most law-abiding countries in the world and nothing would likely happen, but the kids wanted to err on the side of caution.

A vote was taken and it was unanimously agreed to that they were going to walk back to Odaiba via the Kachidoki Bridge route. It was a little out of their way, but it was better than putting their fate into the hands of a complete stranger.

Once they finished their food, the Destined Jedi headed back out into the humid sunny day. Going past Shimbashi station, they walked down three blocks until they reached Kanfuta Street before turning left. Traffic was heavy on the street, so the kids made sure to be extra careful when crossing. No one spoke a word for most of the time.

After a while, the physical toll of the walk was starting to show. Along with the humidity, the kids were also lugging around their belongings, adding another factor to the equation. They were tired, hot, and ready to fall at the drop of a hat. The group was determined, however, to get back home so it made even the heaviest load seem light.

As they reached an intersection, a car horn erupted from their sides, startling them due to how loud and sudden it was.

One car had the window down on the passenger side. Limp Bizkit's 'Nookie' blared out loudly from the car stereos, earning more than a few annoyed glares from several pedestrians passing by.

"Sora, is that you?" a male voice said as a head full of bleach blonde hair popped out from the passenger window.

Sora groaned slightly, but not loud enough to let the young man hear her. This was her cousin, which was hard to believe because of how different the two of them were.

"Hi, Duane," she greeted half-heartedly.

"What are you doing out here?"

"Just walking back home. The Yurikamome line was shut down, so now we're forced to walk back."

"Aw, too bad. Want a lift to your place?"

Sora was quick with her response. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll tell Mom you said hi."

Duane shrugged. "Suit yourself," he said before rolling the window back off and merging back in with the traffic.

Tai was the first to say anything. "Why didn't you say yes, Sora?" he asked.

"Trust me. Duane is not the kind of guy you want driving you places," she replied. "You don't know him the way that I know him."

With a shrug of their shoulders, the group resumed their walk for another two miles until they made a turn at another intersection just before hitting Tsukiji Fish Market. It wasn't long until they could see the Kachidoki Bridge up ahead.

"Hold on. Let's stop for a moment," said Mimi as she bent over her knees in exhaustion. "I need to catch my breath."

"Mimi, we're almost home!" Tai groaned.

"A break does sound nice right now," Matt agreed. "We're halfway there anyway."

Their leader sighed before finally yielding to their wishes. They turned off into an area that was right beside the Sumida River to relax and get their strength back. Even though the river seemed nice and calm, Tai couldn't help but feel something was lurking beneath the surface waiting to appear before them.

"Do you guys have a weird feeling too?" he asked.

Sora nodded. "I know what you mean. I can feel it."

"Stay on your guard, everyone," Tai ordered, activating his lightsaber. "We don't know where or when this thing may appear, so be ready."

He glanced up and down the river, trying to pinpoint the presence that he was feeling. So far, nothing looked out of the ordinary; the breeze blew gently across the water and the river churned loudly as it made its way downstream towards Tokyo Bay. Sweat began to drip down his brow, and not because of the humidity.

Without warning, a large tentacle with razor sharp claws at the end of it emerged from the water and grabbed Izzy before he could notice what happened. Everyone was so surprised by the emergence that they couldn't move in time to stop it.

"Izzy!" Tai cried as the boy screamed for help.

Izzy dangled above the river like shark bait, almost as though one would leap out of the water and snap him up in its jaws at any moment. He tried to reach the lightsaber on his waist but he was being shaken in all directions by the tentacle. He couldn't reach it.

"Guys, help!" he cried, closing his eyes as he felt dizzy from the blood rushing to his head.

As the others rushed in to help, a large white squid-like creature popped up from the surface to reveal itself to the Jedi. Sora was slapped away by another one of its tentacles while Tai and Matt focused on saving Izzy.

"Hang on, Izzy!" Tai yelled to the boy as he and Matt slashed at tentacles that would come their way.

A crowd of people gathered to see what was going on. Many of them couldn't believe what they were seeing: seven children, with one of them being held captive, were fighting a giant squid creature with real lightsabers. It looked like a movie was being filmed, but no one could see any cameras around.

Matt dodged a tentacle that hit Tai instead before jumping up onto the appendage. Just like with the sea serpent they encountered on their first day in the Digital World, he used his enhanced speed to dodge every attack that came his way. The squid tried to locate him, but found it impossible due to how fast he was moving.

The boy finally reached the tentacle where Izzy was being held captive. With his lightsaber hanging over his head, he leapt off the arm he stood on towards it, slicing it off and sending the two of them falling to the water below.

Using this distraction to his advantage, Tai plunged his saber deep into the squid's head. It roared in pain as it fell back beneath the surface of the water with a large splash, sending water onto the walkway.

When the splash finally died down, the people watching were shocked to see that the children were nowhere to be found. Murmurs went through the crowd as to where they could have gone; some even feared that the beast dragged them down with it.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set as Tai and the others floated harmlessly down the river on a pair of logs that they had latched onto after resurfacing from under the water.

"What a day this has been, wouldn't you say?" Tai chuckled, breaking the silence that had come over everyone.

"Yeah," Izzy replied, unfazed by his experience with the squid earlier. "Wouldn't be a day without any monsters trying to kill us."

"I'm ready to get home and unwind from this stuff for a while," said Joe. "I've got a big test coming up and I need to be ready."

Everyone snorted in amusement.

"Someone's got their priorities straight," Matt laughed sarcastically.

As the kids continued their merry little cruise towards Odaiba, a familiar figure watched them from the shore.

DemiDevimon smirked victoriously.

"Finally. The Destined Jedi have shown themselves. Why search for the eighth Jedi ourselves when they can just lead us right to him?"

The diminutive bat flew away towards Myotismon's hideout, anxious to report what he had just found out. Soon, that eighth child was as good as dead once they were through with him, whoever he is.

* * *

 **The group is nearly home! Will they find the eighth Jedi before Myotismon? Find out on the next 'Destined Jedi.'**

 **I wanted to do things a bit differently from the show in order to put my own spin on it. Thank God for Google Maps so that way I could follow the exact path that the kids would be taking. Since I'm going to Tokyo next summer, I may even be taking that route to Odaiba XD Though I'm sure the Yurikamome Line will be running just fine. I always thought it would be funny if Joe cursed up a storm during that part that Matt would have to cover TK's ears. Just something I think could have been funnier if they did it in the show.**

 **Anyway, be sure to leave a review and subscribe to the story. Things are about to get extra heated over the next few chapters, so you'll want to stay tuned. See you all next weekend ;-)**


	26. Home At Last

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: I'm pretty sure I did. The power of trying to be thorough with stuff :) Glad you're still in love with it.**

 **Lord Jaric: I understand your view, but it wouldn't have been practical for the time period that is being presented. I like to be as authentic to the time period that is being portrayed as I possibly can. In 1999, Phantom Menace was all the rage, so the kids would be aware of it. In the next two stories, the other prequels will not be referenced if that makes you feel better. I just did it to set the table for what this story was going to be about. Thank you for your review.**

* * *

 **Here we are with chapter 26. What's gonna happen next with the kids making their way home? Find out.**

* * *

"Here you go, Miko," said Kari as she placed a bowl of milk in front of the brown and white cat. As Miko lapped up the nutritious, white liquid, the girl gave him a scratch behind the ears, causing the cat to purr in delight.

After the events from that morning where her brother came back from camp almost out of nowhere and strange events started happening, things looked like they were back to normal. All Kari could do was hope that her brother was okay, wherever he was at the moment.

For some reason, the girl could feel his presence nearby. For as long as she could remember, Kari was very sensitive to the presence of others and where they were at a particular moment; such as when someone would approach the front door or if one of her friends was nearby. There were also times where she could tell what people were thinking without even being near them, which explained how she knew about this eighth child that Tai was looking for without him telling her.

Her attention was drawn to the sound of the front door opening and closing.

"Kari, we're back," her mother called.

"Everything all right, sweetie?" her father's voice followed.

Kari left the bedroom and into the living room to greet her parents with an adorable smile. The two of them were removing their shoes in the genkan before moving onto the hardwood floors.

"Everything's fine," replied Kari as her father gave her a pat on the head before heading directly towards the fridge for a drink. Mrs. Kamiya kissed her cheek, which Kari returned.

If Tai looked just like their father, Kari could be considered a younger version of their mother. Mrs. Kamiya was a lovely woman in her mid-thirties with long brown hair that was tied in the back in a ponytail and warm brown eyes that exuded a warm motherly love. She loved her two children dearly and would do anything for them.

Mr. Kamiya was a handsome man also in his mid-thirties, but his youthful appearance made him look younger. Just like his son, he had a goofy grin that almost all Kamiya men seemed to share. One could say that he and Tai were a spitting image of each other, but Mr. Kamiya's brown hair was short and well-kept unlike Tai's gravity-defying mop of hair.

"What was wrong with Grandma?"

"She took a bit of a fall," replied Mr. Kamiya as he popped open a can of carbonated water. "She sprained her ankle slightly and has to stay in the hospital for a day. She's upset about it because it cuts into her dance lessons."

"That's Grandma," Kari chuckled before holding out a glass for her father, which he accepted with a smile.

"Grandma was worried about your cold," said Mrs. Kamiya as she put an apron around her that had a frog sewn onto the front. She then sent a playful glare towards her husband. "Daddy should remember to bring your sweater next time."

Mr. Kamiya returned the glare with a look of mock offense. "Don't put that on me, sweetheart," he retorted. "It wasn't my fault."

"Sure it was," Mrs. Kamiya flashed him a playful smirk before lightly smacking him on the cheek.

"I'm okay now," said Kari.

"You do look much better," Mr. Kamiya replied as he took a closer look at her. Her face wasn't as flushed as it was that morning and her eyes were much brighter.

He placed his hand on her forehead, just to be absolutely sure. After a few seconds, he smiled at his daughter.

"You're as cool as a cucumber," he said before kissing the top of her head.

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Miko looked up from his bowl of milk to find a peculiar sight: a long metal object sat under the bottom bunk of Tai and Kari's bed. Moving away from the milk, the cat eyed the strange object with curious eyes. What could it possibly be? Maybe it was one of his masters' toys that ended up being pushed under the bed by mistake.

* * *

Tai took in a big breath of air as he walked down the sidewalk past Odaiba Beach. The group had landed near Daiba Park and embarked on their separate ways, promising to meet up tomorrow with their old elementary school address books. They had to find the eighth Jedi quickly before Myotismon did, and there were a limited amount of options as to who the eighth child could be. It might be someone they knew so they needed to leave no stone unturned.

The setting sun turned the sky a peach color as it settled on the horizon in the distance. Tai could hear the waves from the bay crashing against the shore as he neared his family's apartment building. The memories of what happened when he came through the portal were still fresh in his mind. Hopefully Kari had gotten back home safely and was doing okay.

' _It's strange that Kari could see Ogremon as well,'_ he thought to himself before something else crossed his mind. _'Is it possible that Kari's the eighth Jedi? She somehow knew about it, even though I never told her.'_

That thought stayed in his mind as he finally reached the apartment building. The elevator in the lobby was wide open and beckoning for him to enter. As the floor numbers ticked by, his anticipation grew and grew until it finally stopped. He couldn't get out quickly enough as he sprinted down the hallway towards his family's apartment.

"I'm home!" he cried as he opened the door and entered.

Miko nearly caused him to lose his balance as he went tearing past him like a bat out of hell. His mother than came to the foyer.

Tai nearly lost it as he finally set eyes on his mother for the first time in months, but he tried to keep himself together as his heart filled with joy.

"Tai?" she greeted him with a confused look on her face. Last she heard, camp was supposed to last a few days, rather than just one. "Why are you here? Did something happen at camp?"

"Camp got canceled because it snowed," he replied.

"Snow? Who would have thought at this time of year. Weather's getting so unpredictable these days."

Her eyes then glanced at the symbol on his arm.

"What's that?" she asked, eyeing the mark with interest.

Tai glanced down at it and used the same excuse that they had used earlier when Mr. Fujiyama asked about it.

"It's just something I drew when I was playing with my friends," he replied with an innocent expression on his face.

Mrs. Kamiya looked as though she wasn't sure whether to believe him or not for a few seconds until her face softened.

"Okay. Give me your dirty clothes so I can wash them."

That was when Tai finally lost it. With tears blurring his vision, he charged into her midsection before wrapping his arms around her waist. It had been so long since he had seen her that he couldn't help himself any longer. Her stomach stifled his wails, but they were still loud enough to be heard.

"Tai, is something wrong?" she asked, confused as to why Tai was acting this way. It was almost like he hadn't seen her in months.

"I'm so glad to see you," he said through his sniffles as his mother stroked his hair.

"What's this all about, sweetheart?"

Mr. Kamiya and Kari came over to see what was wrong, and Tai greeted his father just like he did his mother. The two parents were extremely confused as to what was wrong with their son. What happened during one day of camp that made him greet them this way?

* * *

All Sora could hear as she closed the door behind her was her mother's Kyu Sakamoto CD playing 'Sukiyaki' on repeat. She fought the urge to roll her eyes as she took off her shoes because it was something she was used to hearing all the time while at home. It was the only music that her mother would allow to be played in the apartment, much to her daughter's annoyance.

"Mom, I'm home!" Sora called as she got into her house slippers.

There was no response as she made her way further into the apartment. Once she rounded the corner into the living room, she didn't find one trace of her mother. After a few seconds of confusion, Sora remembered that her mother had an ikebana class to teach that evening so she had the apartment to herself for now.

Making her way into her bedroom, Sora dropped all her things onto the floor and looked around. Several posters decorated her bedroom walls; Matchbox Twenty, Green Day, B'z, and all sorts of soccer posters. A CD player sat near the far wall along with a vast collection of CD's; most of them were given to her by her father but she had a few that she bought herself.

Sora planted herself on the floor with her legs crossed as she controlled her breathing so she could meditate.

It felt good to have a few moments of silence alone to herself, which was something she had not had since she went off by herself in the Digital World. She would know when she was ready to confront her mother about the past, but now she wanted nothing more than to feel the Force flowing through her.

* * *

At the Izumi apartment, Mrs. Izumi was currently on the phone with one of her friends. A tall woman with long, flowing maroon hair, her looks did not at all reflect her thirty-three years of life. Some would dare to say that she hasn't aged at all.

"I'm telling you, you're so lucky to have a boy like Izzy," her friend said on the other line. "He's the perfect example of a gentleman, and so smart."

Mrs. Izumi laughed bashfully. She was used to these types of praises she and her husband would receive when it came to their son, but it was still flattering to hear them. Everyone they knew loved Izzy, considering him to be the perfect example for how a child should behave.

"My kids are always fighting, and never listen to a word I say."

The sounds of bickering could be heard in the background. Two little boys were arguing over toys while their mother was trying to separate them. Mrs. Izumi listened as the commotion continued, almost thankful that Izzy never proved to be a problem child. Sometimes she wished that she and her husband were able to give him a sibling, but they were happy with just having Izzy.

"I'm home!"

Speak of the devil, Izzy closed the door behind him as Mrs. Izumi turned towards him.

"Izzy?" she greeted, confused as to why he was home so early from camp. "What are you doing here?"

"I came home ahead of schedule," said Izzy, already moving towards his bedroom door before her next question stopped him.

"Didn't you like camp?"

' _How am I going to explain this?'_ he wondered.

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head nervously before replying, "The food was inferior. It also snowed, so they canceled everything."

"Snow?" Mrs. Izumi asked, finding that odd for the middle of summer. The sound of arguing was so loud that it could be heard all over the entryway. "You know, Tai called me earlier and asked if you were home. He said he came back early as well. Did something happen?"

"No, nothing happened," Izzy immediately replied, a little too forcefully he had to admit. "Call me when dinner's ready."

He shut his bedroom door behind him, leaving his mother confused as to what else may have happened at camp.

"I just wish they were as considerate as your Izzy!" her friend finally said, the exasperation clear in her voice.

Mrs. Izumi sighed. "Sometimes he's too considerate."

* * *

Tai scarfed down yet another helping of tempura and rice in just under a second. He was so hungry that he felt like he could eat all of Japan out of house and home and still have room for seconds.

His mother watched with her jaw practically hitting the table. Tai never ate her food willingly, so she didn't know how to react. She was so fascinated by what she was seeing that something just dawned on her.

"I left the bathwater running," she remembered as she stepped away from the dining room table.

Tai's father and sister were sitting on the couch watching a show, obviously a comedy because of how hard they were laughing. Tai glanced over at the television out of the corner of his eye as he finished the bowl.

"May I have some more, please?" he asked his mother as she returned from the bathroom.

"Tai, this is your third helping," she replied.

"It's been a while since I've had such great cooking," he said, flashing her his famous goofy grin.

"If you're buttering me up for a raise in allowance, you can forget about it, young man," Mrs. Kamiya chuckled, returning his grin with a smirk of her own as she dumped in another helping.

Once dinner was finished, Tai retreated to his bedroom for some much-needed rest. His head was heavy like a bowling ball and the rest of his body was demanding a break after all the excitement from that day.

He was about to settle in for bed when Kari came into the room.

"I'm glad you're back," she said, smiling softly at him. "I missed you when you were gone, Tai."

"I missed you too, Kari," her brother replied as he hugged her close. "Hey, do you happen to remember what happened in Hikarigaoka four years ago?"

Kari frowned for a second as she dug through her memory. She was practically a baby back then, so it would be hard to remember everything.

"I remember that two creatures fought with funny looking swords," she finally replied. "One of them looked like a lion and the other was like that green guy you fought earlier. That's something I'll never forget."

Tai then took the lightsaber off of his waist and presented it to her.

"Do you happen to have one of these?" he asked.

Kari shook her head. "Don't think so," she replied. "Why?"

"Just curious."

Tai almost breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way that Kari could possibly be the eighth Jedi since she didn't have a lightsaber on her. He was thankful he could put that theory to rest.

Speaking of rest, he yawned loudly.

"I'm tired," he said, rubbing his eyes as he stripped off his shirt. "Good night."

"You're such a party pooper," Kari chuckled with a roll of her eyes.

Tai wrapped himself up in the comforter on his bed, falling asleep in the blink of an eye.

Once Kari saw that there was no waking him up, she turned her attention to the whereabouts of their missing cat. Miko still had not come back after running out the door a little while ago.

"Miko, where are you?" she called. "Here, kitty."

* * *

Miko was having quite the adventure.

A simple mission of retrieving the mysterious object that he had found under his masters' bed ended up turning into a wild goose chase. First, another cat showed up with the object in its mouth. Being the good pet that he was, Miko went chasing after the cat to get it back.

What the cat did not expect was getting locked into the back of a truck with no way out and no way of knowing where the truck will stop. Maybe he should have just stayed home; his masters would start to worry about him if he was gone too long.

As the cat stared at the metal object on the floor in front of him, it began to spin around in circles. Miko's eyes widened, confused by its behavior. After a few more seconds, it stopped its spinning.

He had to get home right away.

* * *

Izzy's mind felt at peace as he concentrated his focus inward. His bedroom lights were turned off, with not a single sound to be heard throughout the dark room except for the sounds of his breathing, and the pulse of his heartbeat.

Dinner had been a quiet affair, with his parents asking him how camp was and some small things about the upcoming school semester. He had been lucky to avoid letting his adventures slip out when talking about his experiences at camp. His parents probably wouldn't believe him if he did anyway. Afterwards, he retreated to his room to have some peaceful time to himself.

As he continued to meditate, Izzy's eyes suddenly snapped open. Something wasn't right. Izzy concentrated harder to locate what he was sensing. A chill ran down his spine as a presence of dark energy made contact with him.

' _An evil Digimon,'_ he realized.

Without a second of hesitation, he ran for the phone he kept in his room to call the others to let them know what he felt. Hopefully some of them were still awake and could help him fight it off.

He first dialed Tai's home number.

" _Hello? Kamiya residence_." Mrs. Kamiya answered.

"Hello, Mrs. Kamiya," Izzy replied. "This is Izzy. I was hoping Tai could come to the phone."

" _He's sleeping. Would you like me to wake him up for you_?"

"No, that's okay. Sorry to bother you," he said before disconnecting the call. He then dialed Sora's home number.

"Hi, Mrs. Takenouchi. I know it's late, but is Sora awake?"

" _No, she's sleeping right now."_

"Ok. I'll call back tomorrow."

He then tried Matt's number, knowing that both he and TK would be there, but they were also fast asleep. By process of elimination, Izzy guessed that Joe and Mimi were also asleep by now. He was going to have to do this on his own.

Strapping his trusty laptop to his back and putting his lightsaber on his waist, Izzy made his way out of the bedroom door. Just a few more steps and he would be out the door.

"Izzy."

Izzy cringed slightly as he turned to look at his mother. The sounds from the living room told him that his father was still watching television.

"Hi, Mom," he replied, smiling innocently.

"Where are you going?" Mrs. Izumi asked, noticing how rigid his body language was.

It took Izzy a few seconds to think of a good excuse. He couldn't tell her that he was going off to fight a giant monster.

"I'm going over to Tai's really quick. I asked him earlier if I could borrow one of his reference books and now I'm going over to get it. I'll be back in just a bit."

Before his mother could say anything in return, he put his shoes on and made his way out the door.

As the cool night air blew against his face, Izzy couldn't help but feel guilty for lying to her. He had never lied to his parents before, but he didn't want them to worry as he made his way down to the ground floor of the building to flag down a taxi.

* * *

Miko meowed loudly as he scratched against the door, begging to be let out as the truck came to a stop somewhere. After a few seconds, the truck was jolted violently. The cat shrieked as the truck tumbled over and over, like a trash can rolling down a hill, until it finally landed on its side.

Miko shook himself out before realizing that the door was open. The cat quickly escaped before the truck could potentially roll over again. He then stopped dead in his tracks as the foul smell of rotting fish blasted him in the nose.

A giant, grey monster with sharp teeth growled at him. It looked like a slug that was buried under an avalanche of sludge. Its front legs were tipped with sharp claws at the end, its eyes wild with intent to destroy with one being bigger than the other. It was the most grotesque thing the cat had ever seen.

As it bore a heavy foot down onto him, Miko quickly escaped with the lightsaber in his mouth. Running as fast as his paws could carry him, the creature stayed with him step for step until the sound of a lightsaber activating echoed through the area.

Izzy couldn't believe the sight before him as he gazed upon the large mass of sludge. His nose wrinkled as he pulled out his laptop to identify what Digimon this was. He quickly searched through the Digimon files until he found it: Raremon.

' _If its attacks are just as bad as its smell, I better watch my step,'_ the boy thought to himself as he engaged the creature.

The creature was still ignorant to Izzy's presence as he used the Force to send a nearby lamppost colliding with its head. It unleashed a displeasured cry before turning to finally look at him. Tilting its head back, Raremon spat a greenish liquid towards Izzy, which he dodged as it splashed against the garbage bin behind him.

He dodged a few more attacks, one almost catching him in the side, before he decided to run away, hoping to draw it somewhere that he had the advantage. It growled loudly as it followed Izzy deeper into the industrial park area.

* * *

 _Everything around Tai was dark._

 _For someone who was usually never afraid of the dark, Tai had to admit that the darkness made him feel a little uneasy. It didn't take him long to see that he was all alone, floating in a void of nothingness._

 _As he looked around the void, he couldn't see anything until the sound of two lightsabers activating caught his ear. The sound was as sinister as a snake's hiss, sending a chill down his spine._

 _Tai slowly turned to see the silhouette of four figures, two of them with red lightsabers in their hands. One of them was a serpentine figure with a long body that almost measured sixty feet long. Another was a hulking menace that looked almost machine-like, while the other two with the lightsabers varied in height: one was tall while the other was short, almost wooden._

 _The tall figure let out a loud, booming laugh that almost reminded Tai of a maniacal clown in old horror movies._

" _Destined Jedi," it said. "The time has come to meet your doom."_

 _Tai let out a scream as the figures charged towards him._

"Tai! Sweetheart, wake up."

Tai gasped as he shot up from his bed. Panting heavily, it took him several moments to gather his composure. After getting his breathing under control, he turned to see his mother beside his bed, looking rather concerned.

"What's up, Mom?" he asked as he let out a yawn. His mind was wrapped in a fog and everything seemed blurry around him, which caused him to rub his eyes so he could see clearly.

"Are you okay?" Mrs. Kamiya asked her son, troubled by his mumbling before she woke him up.

Tai let out another yawn as he replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"Izzy called on the phone, and he seemed to be upset about something."

That snapped Tai out of his sleep-induced haze almost immediately. His eyes instantly grew brighter and he was ready for action.

"I wonder what's wrong," he said.

A bad feeling instantly came over him. Something was wrong, and he was going to get to the bottom of it.

* * *

As he stood behind a metal cargo box, Izzy sensed more Force energy coming from a little ways away. It felt just like how the others' Force energy would feel when he sensed them but he didn't recognize it. His eyes went wide.

' _The eighth Jedi!'_ he realized.

He turned to look behind the cargo box to check if Raremon was anywhere nearby. The stench of rotting fish was thankfully nowhere to be smelled, so he took his chance to run towards where he felt the Force energy coming from.

Tearing through the entire area with dogged determination, Izzy followed the trail as he felt it growing stronger and stronger. The eighth child was so close that he could almost taste it. He would have to ask why they were out this late, especially in an area like this.

As Izzy rounded another corner, he was dismayed to find that there was nothing to be seen except for Tokyo Bay to the left and a storage shed to the right.

"That's odd," he said to himself. "I could have sworn that I felt something here."

"Well, well, well. Look what I found."

Izzy looked up to see a familiar face smirking down at him. DemiDevimon floated above him, smiling in sadistic pleasure.

"DemiDevimon!" the boy pointed his lightsaber towards the diminutive bat threateningly. "What have you done to the eighth child?"

"You tell me, short stack!" the bat returned before unleashing one of his darts. "Demi Dart!"

Izzy calmly used the Force to stop the dart's momentum before turning it back towards DemiDevimon, who dodged it just in time.

"Watch where you're throwing that thing!" the bat cried.

"Tell me where the eighth child is!" Izzy demanded, the bright green blade of his lightsaber just mere inches from his adversary.

Something emerged from the water with a loud splash, followed by a menacing growl. The two of them turned to see that Raremon had come back for a second crack at Izzy.

"That's my exit cue," DemiDevimon said, the smirk on his face growing wider as he flew away. "See ya. Wouldn't want ta be ya."

"Come back here!" Izzy cried as he turned his attention back to Raremon, holding his lightsaber tightly against his side in a Shien stance.

It unleashed two more spitting attacks before it tried to slash Izzy's side. The boy was prepared for the assault and sliced off the claws on its foot, earning a roar of pain from the beast.

Izzy dodged one last blob of mucus, as well as its other clawed foot, before leaping onto its foot and then its back. His shoes started to sink into Raremon's sludge-covered body, almost like he was trudging through deep snow, but Izzy did not waste any time by plunging his saber into the creature's back. With one last cry of pain, Raremon disappeared into thousands of small bits of data.

Exhausted, Izzy dropped to his backside to catch his breath. Sweat dripped off of his brow, falling to the ground like little rain drops. He would definitely need a bath when he got home.

' _Oh no!'_ his eyes widened at that thought. _'I better get home. They'll start to worry about me.'_

As he ran back the way he came, Izzy realized that Tai had been right: the eighth child lived nearby, rather than in Hikarigaoka. That narrowed the search area down considerably, which would make things easier for them. Hopefully they would find the eighth child before Myotismon did.

They had to.

* * *

Mrs. Izumi glanced at the door as she sipped on a cup of tea. She and her husband had settled into their bedroom for the night, but Izzy was still gone. The Izumi apartment was only a couple of floors down from the Kamiya apartment, so it shouldn't have taken Izzy that long to retrieve a reference book.

"What's wrong?" Mr. Izumi asked his wife, noticing her glances at the door.

"Izzy's been gone a long time," she replied.

"I'm sure it's fine. Maybe he and Tai just got so wrapped up in conversation that they lost track of time."

The phone ringing interrupted the conversation. Mrs. Izumi dashed in a beeline towards the phone before picking it up.

"Hello?" she answered, hoping that it was Izzy calling them.

" _Hi, Mrs. Izumi. It's Tai,"_ came the response from the other line.

"Oh, hello, Tai. I hope you had fun at camp, I'm sorry it was cut short, and thank you for loaning Izzy that reference book. Could you send him home please?"

" _Reference book? What are you talking about? Izzy's not here,"_ Tai replied, which earned a gasp from the woman. _"I was just calling back because he sounded like something was up. I'm sorry to bother you. Good night."_

The line then cut off as Tai hung up on the other side.

Now Mrs. Izumi was even more worried than before. Not only had Izzy lied to her about the reference book, but she didn't know where he was. For all she knew, he could be anywhere in the area.

"Everything alright, dear?" her husband called from the bedroom.

"Honey, I think we need to have a talk with our son."

* * *

Izzy slipped quietly through his bedroom window. After leaping to the second floor from the ground level, he used the Force to open it so he didn't have to use the front door.

As he put his laptop back onto his desk, with his lightsaber right next to it, he was about to settle down for bed, he heard noises coming from the other side of the hall. It sounded like his parents' voices. Rather than open the door to listen in, he closed his eyes and concentrated. His symbol began to glow purple as their voices entered his ears.

"Ever since he got back, it seems like he's hiding something," his mother said. "I just can't put my finger on it. He's keeping something inside, and he doesn't want to tell us what's wrong."

"Even if he is, you can't blame him," his father replied. "After all, we're keeping something from him."

A wave of guilt overcame Izzy as he heard his parents talk. He didn't mean to worry them this much, especially after all they had done for him during his life. They didn't deserve to be lied to, but he didn't know what else to do.

"I'm sure it's just a phase he's going through, but I'll try and talk to him."

"No, don't," Mrs. Izumi said forcefully. "Everyone thinks he's perfect, but that's too much to expect of him. We've got to let him become his own man. He has to make mistakes. That's what it means to be a kid."

Izzy heard his father sigh in defeat.

"You're right, hon. But that doesn't mean we can't try and get him to open up with us."

"We'll let him come to us when he's ready. We just have to trust him."

Izzy's symbol stopped glowing, but he had heard enough of the conversation to understand what was happening. His face drooped slightly as a million thoughts ran through his head.

' _I just hope they can forgive me when all this is over,'_ he thought as he changed into his pajamas, giving a big yawn.

After nestling under the covers, it wasn't long before sleep wrapped Izzy in its comforting embrace. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and he knew he and the others would need all the energy that they could get.

* * *

 **Will the Destined Jedi find the eighth child before Myotismon does? What happens if the kids' secret is discovered? And who were those figures Tai was dreaming about? Find out on the next Destined Jedi.**

 **Hope you all enjoyed that chapter because it felt a little scatterbrained to me. The episode itself was a little scatterbrained with so much going on that it was hard to put down into a single, linear chapter but I'm sure it turned out alright. Wanted to crank this sucker out now because tomorrow is my birthday. The big double deuce: 22. Man, I can't believe it.**

 **Anyways, be sure to leave a review and subscribe to the story, as always. I want to thank all of you for sticking with me this long, and soon your patience will be rewarded. I may or may not have the next chapter out on time next week because I have midterm exams coming up this week but I will do my damnedest.**

 **See you guys real soon ;-)**


	27. Tokyo Tower of Terror

**Reviews**

 **Music Chick: Welcome back, my friend! Yes, Joe's anger in chapter 25 was** **justifiable. At least the others had the consideration to buy them food after that. Glad you liked the last chapter. I thought it added a differing perspective to see things through Miko's eyes.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: XD You crack me up.**

 **Missysue: Thank you so much for the review. Glad to know that you are enjoying it so far. Like I said in my response to Lord Jaric in the last chapter, I try to faithfully portray the time period that is being presented. The Digimon just may have a big role to play going forward. You'll find out as we go along ;-)**

 **I also want to thank Mishi100, Taiski, Theteamrpmgfs, and dragonbane552 for favoriting the story. You guys rock!**

* * *

 **Here we are with yet another chapter. Turns out I only had two exams and a quiz this week, so I was able to put this chapter out on time. Now that the kids are home at last, what happens next in their pursuit of the eighth child? Find out.**

* * *

"Come on! Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Tai muttered as he scanned his bookshelf, tracing his finger along the book spines at a rapid pace. Panic ran through him as none of the titles on the shelf were what he was looking for.

After his call with Mrs. Izumi last night, Tai found it difficult to sleep through the night. That vision he had weighed on his mind as he pondered its meaning. What if Myotismon wasn't the only other evil they would have to face? What if there were more bad Digimon waiting for them? He would have to consult with Agumon later after he and the others searched the area for the eighth child.

"What are you looking for, big brother?"

Tai whipped around to see Kari standing at the door, wearing a cute yellow top to go with pink shorts and a light pink ascot tied around her neck. As he did so, his hand brushed against a group of books, sending them to the floor. That little motion started a chain reaction as more books fell on top of the boy, burying him in a small mountain of paper and hard cover.

"Are you okay?" Kari asked as she pulled some of the books away.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied as he freed his legs before standing back up. "I'm looking for my old phone book from first grade. Do you know where it is?"

Kari shook her head sadly, which earned a groan of despair from her brother as he continued rummaging through every nook and cranny of his bookshelf.

As she watched Tai look through everything like an archaeologist on a dig site, Kari felt as though she knew why he was searching for his old address book.

"Does this happen to be about that eighth child you were talking about yesterday?" she asked, which sent another pile of books to come toppling down onto Tai. This time, they fell onto his head.

"Ow," he groaned, rubbing the top of his throbbing head. He then turned to face her. "How do you know about the eighth child, Kari?" he asked. "You didn't answer my question about it when I asked you yesterday."

"I told you, I don't know," she replied. "Something just told me that you were looking for someone."

It was true. Kari had no idea as to why she knew about this eighth child that her brother was looking for. He never told her about it directly, but somehow she knew about it. It was like she could read his mind.

Tai had a nagging suspicion as he turned to look towards the fallen books, then back to his sister, that he knew who the eighth Jedi was. Even now, he could sense a strong Force energy nearby. It was almost as if…

' _No! It can't be!'_ he thought as his eyes widened. Was it possible that Kari was the eighth Jedi? Now that he thought about it, it was unfortunately a reality that he was going to have to consider. How else would she know about the mystery of the eighth child?

Kari had always been more perceptive than many other children, but Tai always chalked it up to just her being smart. She knew things that only he would know about, and she could see events before they happened. All of it pointed to her.

"Tai?" Kari's voice broke through his thoughts. "Are you ok?"

Before Tai could respond, the door opened followed by their mother's voice.

"Tai, your friend Izzy's here," she said.

"Just a moment," he replied as she closed the door behind her. He hooked his lightsaber onto the waist of his shorts before giving Kari a pat on the shoulder. "I've gotta go. We'll talk about this more when I get back."

"Ok."

Tai made his way through the living room and hallway quietly as a shadow on the wall, not wanting his mother to notice the saber on his waist. He couldn't take the risk of her noticing it and asking questions. There was no way she would believe him if he told her the truth.

After putting his shoes on, he opened the door to find the red-haired computer genius standing before him.

"Hey," he greeted with a smile before closing the door behind him. "What's going on?"

"Hey," returned Izzy. "You ready to go?"

Tai nodded, and the two of them made their way down the hall towards the elevator. As the lift machine descended its way down to the ground floor, Tai decided to finally address the odd events of last night.

"I tried calling you back last night, but you weren't available," he said. "What happened?"

"One of Myotismon's henchmen attacked the harbor last night," Izzy replied, his nose still smelling rotten fish after fighting Raremon. "None of you guys were awake to help back me up so I went and took care of it myself."

Tai groaned, slapping a hand to his face. "I'm sorry, dude. If I was awake, I would have come and helped you out."

"That's ok. I managed to defeat it."

It didn't take much longer until the elevator finally stopped. The two Destined Jedi moved silently through the lobby before finally emerging into the humid summer day. The sun stared down mercilessly onto the city streets, causing heat to radiate off of them.

As they began the two-mile walk to the park, Tai couldn't help but feel as though Izzy wasn't telling him something. The younger boy was giving the thousand-yard stare as the two of them walked, like he was lost in deep thought.

"There something else you want to tell me?" he asked as the two of them came to an intersection, waiting for the light to change.

Izzy took a deep breath before answering, "I think the eighth Jedi may be closer than we think. You had the right idea when you said that we should look here rather than in Hikarigaoka."

"You actually felt something?" Tai replied, his excitement rising. The eighth child must have been under their nose this whole time, and they never noticed.

"Yeah," Izzy nodded. "But, when I was close to where I felt the Force energy, there was nothing there. That means we're going to have to be extra vigilant today."

"What would we do without you, Izzy?"

Izzy smiled at the praise as the light changed and they moved with the crowd of people across the street. It didn't take much longer until the park was in their sights. Only one more light change and they would be under the shade of the trees.

"Did you end up finding your old address book?" Izzy asked as they waited.

Tai chuckled nervously, scratching his cheek, before replying, "Since Sora was in my class, I thought we would just use hers."

"Couldn't find it, could ya?" the younger boy smirked.

"Shut up!"

The light finally changed and the two of them crossed into the park towards the place that Tai had designated for them all to meet at. Matt and TK were there already, waiting patiently as Tai and Izzy joined them.

Out of the trees, Sora and Mimi emerged just as Izzy began explaining what had happened in the harbor the previous night. This narrowed down their search radius considerably because it meant that the eighth Jedi was close. If they played their cards right, then they would find the mysterious child before Myotismon did.

"Are you sure that the eighth child is here?" Sora asked, listening intently while Izzy told his story.

"I'm almost positive about that, Sora," Izzy replied. "When I felt a Force energy that was unfamiliar, I just knew that it had to be someone who lived in this general area."

"We should be careful though," said Matt. "Now that the news stations are catching on to these incidents, we'll need to take extra care that we don't draw any unwanted attention. We can't risk having Myotismon know that the eighth child is close."

"What if he's found out already?" asked Mimi.

Matt glared at her. "We can't think that way, Mimi! We need to stay one step ahead. Myotismon's Digimon have already been ransacking the city to find this kid."

"Matt, calm down," said Tai, patting the blonde-haired boy on the shoulder. "We'll find him."

He then frowned. Should he tell them what he had realized earlier? He didn't want to be proven wrong, or risk Kari's safety if he told the others that she may be the eighth Destined Jedi. For now, he kept his mouth shut.

Sora noticed Tai's frown.

"Is there something you want to tell us, Tai?" she asked.

Tai's eyes widened in shock. Did Sora really know him that well to know when something was on his mind? Maybe girls had mind powers that didn't have to be amplified by Force sensitivity to be effective.

"No, it's nothing," he replied, hoping she would drop it.

She did not.

"Your thoughts betray you," she pressed further.

"Just drop it, okay?" he lashed out. "We're wasting time here. We need to get out there and find this eighth kid so that we can take down Myotismon. Save the Digi-World, and we'll save our own. Let's go!"

His impassioned speech earned collective cheers from everyone, even Sora, who seemed like she was willing to drop the subject for now. She planned to press him further about it later when they got a chance to be alone.

"So, what's our plan?" TK asked.

"Well, I have a…"

"STOP!"

Everyone jumped slightly after being startled by the loud cry. Joe came running out of the trees, getting to the group in less than a second after using the Force to give himself a boost.

"Hold up!" he cried breathlessly. "I want to hear Izzy's theory! Don't start without me! I love his theories."

"About time you got here, Joe," Tai said, giving him an annoyed look. "We weren't going to start without you."

As Joe settled in, Izzy started over from where he was before being interrupted.

"As I was going to say," he began. "We know that four years ago, Leomon and Ogremon came to our world and battled. The seven of us, including the eighth child, saw it. It's safe to assume that we were chosen as the Destined Jedi for a reason."

"Yeah, so?" Matt asked, wondering what Izzy was getting to. "What's your point?"

"My point is this: the reason I asked you all to grab your old school address books is because the eighth Jedi might be in one of them. It is possible that they moved here after the attack like we did, so we will need to make a lot of phone calls and patrol this area for their whereabouts, as well as to make sure Myotismon's goons don't find the child before us."

Joe raised his hand, like he was waiting to be called on in class.

"I could do some of the calling," he said. "But I have studying to do. I have a test tomorrow, so I need to hit the books, which means I can't go on the search."

Everyone groaned.

"You are so lame!" said Matt.

"Yeah, Joe," Tai joined. "It's summer. Relax a little."

"Not when I have entrance exams coming up," Joe replied defensively. "I'm looking to get into a top middle school, so I need to be prepared."

"Then you can do my calling for me," Mimi said as she placed her book in his hands before leaving the park.

"Same for me," Matt put his book on top of hers. "We're talking about the fate of the world here, Joe. If you're not going to help us, then you're our honorary secretary for the day. See ya."

Izzy too gave Joe his address book, saying that having one person do the calling would be most effective, as did Sora. Joe was practically begging for mercy as Tai came over to him.

"Not yours too, Tai!" he begged, looking like he was ready to cry if he got one more book placed in his hands. They were starting to get heavy.

"I wouldn't do that to ya, Joey," Tai smiled at him. "Besides, you've got enough on your plate."

Rather than get upset at being called 'Joey', Joe looked at Tai like he was looking at God.

"Oh, Tai, thank you! You're such a great guy!"

"Oh, it's no big deal." Tai chuckled nervously as he scratched his cheek, not used to being lauded with such praise.

Sora and Izzy scoffed to themselves as they watched from a few feet away.

"Mr. Generous," Sora snickered. "I bet he couldn't find his address book."

"However did you guess?" Izzy said with a roll of his eyes.

* * *

Thick fog rolled into the Odaiba district like an evil cloud. It was so thick that even the Rainbow Bridge was obscured from sight. Pedestrians and other citizens in the district found this rather peculiar, for the weather forecast never predicted that fog would be rolling in today. With all the strange weather phenomenon going on lately, it was just another episode in an ongoing saga.

At Daiba Park, an eighteenth-century chariot rolled onto the large, grassy area. It was automated completely on its own; nothing pulling it from the front, nor a driver. After rolling a few yards, it stopped before disappearing beneath the ground. A small base had been set up underneath the surface, away from prying eyes where no one would suspect a thing was out of the ordinary.

The door to the carriage then opened to reveal Myotismon. After a long night out on the town, he was ready to rest up so that he could resume his search for the eighth Jedi.

"Welcome, oh great one," Gatomon greeted as she bowed before her master. "I hope you find this place to your liking. Everything is as you requested it to be."

Myotismon smiled at her. "Perfect," he said. "As always, you have done excellent work, Gatomon. You are dismissed."

"Yes, sir," the cat saluted before heading up to the surface to resume her own search. The fog was getting even thicker than it had just a moment ago, making it even harder to see anything ten yards in front of her face.

Before she could get far, DemiDevimon's snarky voice called out to her.

"Hey, whiskers! Where do you think you're going?"

Gatomon smirked as she turned to face him before replying, "I don't _think_. I _know_ why I'm here. I'm finding the eighth Jedi and ending this thing so we can get out of here."

This only enraged DemiDevimon more. Every single time he would get ahead, Gatomon would take a mile before he could take a yard. He wasn't going to let her find the eighth child before him.

"That's my job, fur ball!" he roared. "I'm the one who's in charge here, not you. So, quit sucking up to the master."

Gatomon cackled loudly at his threat. "Yeah, right."

DemiDevimon then started mocking her while in mid-air, only fanning the flames of their conflict even more.

"Look at me, I'm the master's cute little pet," he said in a high-pitched voice. "Gag me with a fur ball!"

"It's really hard to feel threatened by a bowling ball with feathers," Gatomon retorted, the smirk on her face not budging an inch.

"Shut up! I'm finding that kid before you!" DemiDevimon roared before flying away from the island towards the other side of the harbor.

Gatomon's face twisted into an annoyed frown as DemiDevimon flew away.

' _That flappy-winged joker couldn't find water if he fell out of a boat.'_

* * *

Sora wiped the sweat off of her brow with the back of her hand, giving an exhausted sigh as she and Mimi made their way down the deserted street. The humidity was beating down on the two of them as it got closer to noon. So far, they hadn't had any luck in finding a trace of the eighth child, even though it had been almost an hour since they began searching. It was starting to get frustrating.

Tokyo was by no means a place where someone can walk down the street and see people they know every time they go for a walk, but it shouldn't be that hard to find one kid who was strong in the Force. Especially since the two of them were fully trained in using their powers to sense Force energy near and far.

"Hold on. Let's stop for a moment," Mimi whined as she bent over her knees. "I need a break."

Sora resisted the urge to roll her eyes and groan loudly. This was the fifth time during their walk that Mimi asked for a break.

"Ok, but make it quick," she said, trying not to grit her teeth in aggravation.

The two of them found a bench underneath a cluster of trees, providing some much appreciated shade. As Mimi soaked in the shade and relaxed, Sora poured over the map of the area that she had in her hands. Places they had been were marked off with red 'x's to remind them not to go back to them.

' _I can't believe we're on this wild goose chase,'_ Sora thought as she examined the map further for any other potential places they could go to look.

Her mother got home a couple of hours after her last night. Aside from simple pleasantries, the two of them didn't really talk that much over dinner. Sora didn't feel it was the right time to confront her mother about their past just yet. She planned to, but it was just a matter of timing. Unfortunately, it seemed like her mother wasn't giving her the time of day.

' _Can't say I'm surprised.'_

"Sora, let's go someplace where lots of people gather," said Mimi, snapping her from her thoughts. "That'll help us find the kid even more."

"Have anywhere in mind?"

Mimi nodded, pointing to their right. Sora followed her finger to gaze up at the monstrosity that was Tokyo Tower. Stretching over a thousand feet in the air, easily the largest structure in Japan, it was not only a communications tower, but also a tourist attraction. Much like the Space Needle in Seattle, tourists would go up to the observation deck to get a good view of the entire Tokyo metropolitan area.

"Well that's a good start," said Sora. "Let's go."

* * *

"Miko, come back here!" Kari cried as she chased after her cat.

For some reason, Miko decided to run off from the apartment once again. After last night, Kari gave chase to make sure that he did not go far and so she could keep track of him.

After running some more, she couldn't see him within the dense brush. Little did she know that she was standing in the same area that her brother and his friends had been in just an hour ago.

"Oh, where are you?" Kari called, cupping her hands around her mouth to amplify the sound.

As she continued searching, a strange white cat strutted on by her. It wasn't the cat she was looking for, but it still caught her attention. The purple tips on its ears and tail, along with the yellow green gloves on its paws, stood out more than anything else. It was unlike any other cat she had ever seen before.

' _What a funny looking kitty,'_ she thought as it turned to look at her.

For a moment, the two just stared in complete fascination with the other. Gatomon could sense a great amount of Force energy coming from the little girl. Was it possible that she was the eighth child?

"Hi there," Kari finally said, squatting down to the creature's level. "What's your name?"

Gatomon put on the demeanor of a normal cat by meowing to keep herself from talking to the girl. She couldn't expose herself as a talking cat, especially if it was true that Kari was the eighth Destined Jedi. Seeing that she wouldn't give up, Gatomon turned and ran.

"Wait! Don't go!" Kari cried as the cat ran off. After watching for a few more seconds, she shrugged and walked off towards home. Miko would come back home soon when he was ready.

From the safety of the trees, Gatomon watched the child leave the park area with a look of interest.

' _Is it possible that this squirt is the eighth Destined Jedi?'_ she wondered. _'The Force is strong within her, more so than any other human child I have come across in this world. I can't take any chances at this point.'_

As quiet and quick as a shadow, Gatomon followed Kari out of the park, staying far enough away that she wouldn't be detected.

* * *

As Mimi and Sora walked out of the elevator on the observation deck of Tokyo Tower, the sweet relief of air conditioning blasted the two of them in the face. After enduring the heat and humidity for over an hour, the AC was a welcomed reprieve.

"Ah," Mimi sighed. "Just feel that cool air."

Sora rolled her eyes. When Mimi said that they would get a better view of the city, it really meant that she wanted somewhere that would be air-conditioned. She couldn't say she minded it though.

The entire observation deck was covered with glass windows, allowing for great views of the entire Tokyo metropolitan area. Even Mount Fuji could be seen on a clear day such as this one. But for now, the girls looked out onto the entire Odaiba district, which was blanketed in fog.

"When did that fog roll in?" Sora wondered.

"I don't know," Mimi replied. "This weather keeps getting weird all the time."

"You can say that again. It's sure weird being back in our own world."

The chime of the elevator echoed throughout the room as another batch of passengers came up. Sora instantly turned, sensing a disturbance in the Force. What she saw was a tall figure in a large, brown trench coat and bucket hat, which completely obscured his face.

"Is it just me or did it get hotter over here?" Mimi said as she moved closer to the air vents. After a few seconds, they finally gave out and left the room feeling much more stuffy and hot.

"Mimi, I think it's time for us to leave," Sora whispered, grabbing the girl's arm to move her away, but Mimi resisted.

"What makes you think that?" she asked as she finally got a look at the figure in the trench coat, giving a cry of disgust. "What is that weirdo doing wearing a coat in this heat? And such an ugly one too."

Sora immediately stomped her foot onto Mimi's to cut her off. Mimi squealed as the pain shot through her foot.

"What did you do that for?"

"Shut up!" Sora hissed as the figure turned to them. "I have a bad feeling about this. Let's not provoke him."

"Oh yeah?" Mimi retorted. "What's he gonna do?"

She didn't have to wait long for an answer as the coat exploded in a ball of blue fire, followed by a lightsaber ignition. After the fire subsided, the two female Destined Jedi were shocked at what they saw.

The figure had the body of a man with black pants with flames on the side, but its head was completely made of metal, like a T-800 from the _Terminator_ movies. Long blue hair stretched to the sky like large amounts of hair gel had been applied to it. Finally, long thick chains covered its torso and its red lightsaber glowed blood red.

Sora and Mimi quickly activated their lightsabers to engage him. The other people in the observation deck ran in all directions, screaming loudly to get away from the figure.

"Prepare to meet your end, Destined Jedi," he roared as their lightsabers clashed.

* * *

"Hey, I'm walking here!" Tai shouted to a cab that was honking its horn impatiently as he and Izzy crossed the crosswalk.

Having just exited Roppongi station, they were headed towards their next destination: the area near Tokyo Tower. So far, the two of them weren't having any luck at all in tracking down the eighth child. No kid that passed by had significant Force energy surrounding them.

Even with this record of disappointment, Tai couldn't help but feel as though the eighth Jedi was close. Maybe it was Kari. Who else did he know that had seen the monster attack in Hikarigaoka four years ago? It all started to make sense.

' _Then again, she didn't have a lightsaber with her. Maybe she's just smarter than I give her credit for,'_ he thought as he and Izzy finished crossing. _'There's no way she's the eighth Jedi.'_

"Something wrong, Tai?" Izzy asked, noticing the frown on the leader's face.

"Not really," he replied. "So far, we haven't had any luck finding this eighth kid, but I can't help but feel we've missed something. Maybe the eighth kid's been under our nose this whole time. It's like seeing a painting a thousand times but noticing the apple on the thousand and first time."

"Do you have an idea who it could be?"

Before Tai could answer, he looked up to see a most fascinating sight: Tokyo Tower seemed to be swaying from the heat like it was a desert mirage. The area did seem to be hotter than normal.

"Hold that thought," he said, taking out his mini-telescope and looking closely at the tower. So far, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary…until someone smashed through a window and fell before grabbing onto a suspension cable below the observation deck.

People gasped at the horrible sight as Tai looked to see the identity of the person who fell. A flash of auburn hair was all he needed to see to know who it was.

"Sora!" he cried as he took off running like a maniac. "Come on, Izzy! We need to help!"

* * *

The only thing Sora could hear, aside from the blood pounding in her ears, was the wind swirling below her as she tightly held onto the suspension cable. Adrenaline shot through her body like it came from a cannon due to her near-death experience.

Above her, Mimi deflected every single strike that came her way. She was too frightened to muster up any offense against the fireball Digimon. Every time it would go for a strike, she would either move away before it could make contact with her or deflect it away.

"Somebody help!" she screamed as she ran around the top of the observation deck, desperate to avoid the Digimon's attacks.

Sora helplessly heard Mimi's cries as she continued to hang onto the cable, knowing that she couldn't do anything to help at the moment. Her head was spinning due to the vertigo washing over her like a tsunami wave. She needed to get back up onto the observation deck.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered as she bounced on the cable to build up her momentum. For a moment, she worried that the cable would snap and send her tumbling to her death, but it held firmly.

Sora started to swing like a gymnast on the parallel bars before she finally gained enough momentum to swing herself up onto the top of the observation deck, thanks to her enhanced jumping abilities.

While still in mid-air, she activated her blue lightsaber and immediately clashed with the Digimon as she came out of a somersault. Sparks flew from their blades as they pressed against each other until due to his superior strength, her opponent used the butt of his blade to hit her in the jaw. Sora's hand immediately went to her jaw as she fell to the ground, making sure nothing was broken.

"Hey, ugly!" a familiar voice cried as the hulking figure got closer to Sora. A long pole flew from almost out of nowhere and nailed the Digimon in the face, stunning it for a second as two other lightsaber ignitions pierced the air.

A small smile graced Sora's features as Tai leapt through the air and began a blitzkrieg of attacks. Izzy rushed to her side to check on her.

"Are you guys ok?" he asked as he examined her for any injuries.

"Yeah, we're fine," she replied. "Just saving some room for you. Who is that Digimon anyway?"

Izzy scrolled through his Digimon files on his computer until he found the right one. The Digimon was called Skullmeramon and was a fiery Digimon just like Meramon.

Tai and Skullmeramon locked sabers as each one tried to turn the stalemate in their favor. Tai had to admit that the Digimon was as strong an opponent as they had ever faced, which made it all the more challenging for him.

The flames that emanated off of Skullmeramon were so hot that it felt like Tai was staring down a boiling furnace that was turned up to 1,000 degrees. Sweat poured down his face in buckets as his skin soaked it up.

Finally, the two broke their lock as Tai came in with a strike…only to be met with a size 16 boot in his face before it landed on his chest. Izzy and Sora jumped in to try and help him, but Skullmeramon whipped them with his chains to keep them away.

Tai tried to pry his foot off of him, but Skullmeramon was applying so much pressure that he was finding it difficult to breathe; his head started to feel light and he gasped for air as he struggled to get the big boot off.

As Skullmeramon was about to bring his saber down onto the boy, he roared in pain as a blue lightsaber stuck out of his shoulder. Sora endured the heat for as long as she could to get the flame Digimon off of Tai. Her plan worked as he removed his foot from Tai's chest. Skullmeramon then elbowed her in the face, sending her lightsaber scattering away as she fell to the ground.

Using this to his advantage, Tai sprang to his feet. With renewed energy flowing through him, he charged in with an overwhelming strike from above his head. His symbol glowed as he attacked, making his strikes even more powerful than they already were.

Finally, Tai plunged his saber into Skullmeramon's chest. After one loud scream, the creature disappeared in a swarm of data as it broke apart.

Tai dropped to his knee, exhausted from the duel as he took deep breaths to replenish his air supply.

"Thanks, Sora," he gasped as the girl collected herself from the ground, nursing a bruise under her eye from where she got elbowed. "You really saved me there."

"It was nothing," she replied. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just a little winded. It's so hot out here."

* * *

Kari watched in fascination as the news showed the battle at Tokyo Tower. The chopper footage showed a man surrounded by flames battling four kids. It was unlike anything that the little girl had seen before, aside from movies.

Gatomon eyed the girl with curious eyes. She could sense the Force energy radiating off of her like Skullmeramon's flames. It was arguably the strongest amount of energy she had felt in her entire life. There was no mistaking it: this child had to be the eighth Jedi. The time had come to make her move.

With Kari's eyes still glued to the television, Gatomon jumped up onto the top of the couch and made her way over to her like a snake stalking its prey in the grass. She tapped her claws against the fabric, ready to deliver the scratch that would end the girl's life and stop the Destined Jedi for good.

But just as she was about to stretch her claws forward, Kari turned to look at the cat with an innocent smile on her face. This action caused Gatomon to hesitate, having not expected this to happen.

"Come here," said Kari, holding her arms out for Gatomon to jump into.

The cat was so surprised by this action that it caused her to lose her balance and fall off the couch. Unlike most cats, Gatomon landed on her back rather than her feet. Shaking herself out like a dog, she knew that it was time to leave. She didn't want to overstay her welcome and as long as she continued to hesitate, she wouldn't be able to get the job done.

"Are you going already?" Kari asked sadly as Gatomon made her way towards the door, but not before looking back.

"You'll come back soon right?"

Rather than answer, Gatomon bolted out of the apartment and down the long flights of stairs towards the bottom floor.

' _Why couldn't I do it?'_ she reprimanded herself. _'I was so close to finally stopping the Destined Jedi, but I choke on a fur ball at the last second! Ah well, I'll be back, and when I do, I'm going to finish her this time.'_

* * *

 **Is it possible that Kari could be the eighth Jedi? Find out as we continue on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **I think we all should take a moment to recognize that this is the first moment in the story that Tai has killed one of their opponents. That's right, someone else has done the job every time except for him. He may have more in him later ;-)**

 **Anyways, hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe to the story just like always. Up next is another one of my favorite episodes from the series as the mystery of the eighth child grows larger and larger. See you all next week.**


	28. Shibuya-Type Digimon

**Ackbarfan5556: I stand corrected. He destroyed Kuwagamon back in the second chapter/first episode so sorry for that confusion. Glad we are in agreement there. If they had clued us in a bit more, it would have been more interesting that way. Thanks for constantly being there for me so far, Ross (don't ask how I know ;-))**

 **Music Chick: Miko did a lot of things I'm sure we're not aware of, but it's still great all the same. You are exactly right ;-)**

* * *

 **Here we are with yet another chapter. Let's shift gears a little bit as we go to the most fun part of Tokyo, which I will be going to in a few more months: Shibuya. What will happen there? Find out...now.**

* * *

A gaggle of people stormed across the crosswalk, desperate to beat the 45-second limit that they would be able to cross safely before their time ran out. Once the pedestrian light turned red, the taxi cabs, fancy cars, and motorcyclists took off from across the street and filled the roadway with the sounds of a Monday evening in the Shibuya district of Tokyo.

Shibuya. Tokyo's answer to Times Square in New York and Piccadilly Circus in London. At night, a mixture of teenagers and adults, both old and young, congregate on this small area in search of a good time. With so many bars, restaurants, and theaters a short walk down the street, it wouldn't be hard to find something to do.

Mixed in with the crowds of people and the cars on the street, two odd-looking figures were riding on top of a cab, yelling and screaming in joy as if they were riding a roller coaster.

One had a pumpkin for a head with a hatchet firmly planted into it, like someone had tried to split its head open with it but failed to, while its body was like a stuffed doll's. The other was made completely from rock, almost like a rocky Pinocchio in a way. The two of them had followed Myotismon to the human world, but weren't at all interested in finding the eighth Jedi. Rather, they were in search of a good time.

"The human world is a strange place, wouldn't you say, Pumpkinmon?" the rock Digimon said. "These humans don't look like they're any fun."

"You said it, Gotsumon," replied the pumpkin-headed Digimon. "But what they need is two guys who really know how to have fun."

"Like us?"

"Precisely!"

"Then let's go out and show them what a party really is," said Gotsumon as the two of them joyously leapt off the top of the cab and onto the sidewalk.

"Look out, Shibuya, because we are Shibuya-type Digimon!" they both cried as they blended into the crowd of people in search of the first fun thing they want to do.

* * *

Matt and TK navigated their way through the crowd as they walked out of the theater. Matt had fulfilled his promise to take TK to see _Phantom Menace_ before taking him home, and the younger blonde was still in awe from the movie. After their failure to find the eighth Jedi around the docks earlier that day, they could use some cheering up and the movie did more than enough to do that.

"That gets better every time I see it!" TK exclaimed.

Matt couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's excitement.

"You still think it's cool even though we're Jedi ourselves?" he snickered. "You're funny, squirt."

"Yeah, that's cool too, but the movie is still awesome!"

As the two made their way down the street to Hachiko Crossing, Matt's heart started to ache as he realized he would be sending TK back to their mom and would be apart for the first time since he went off to find the others at the lake.

Due to getting back earlier than expected, TK slept over with Matt at their father's apartment. Their dad worked late at the TV station, so he wasn't home much. If they hadn't been so tired, they would have stayed up late talking and doing all the other things brothers do. Now it was time to separate for the time being, and Matt really didn't want to.

Once the pedestrian light turned green, the two brothers joined in with the massive swarm of people making their way across the crossing until they reached the Hachiko statue just in front of the station.

"You don't have to follow me back," said TK. "I'll go on home alone."

"No," Matt immediately replied. "I'm going to take you all the way home, little bro."

"You don't have to."

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. I want to make sure that you get home safe."

"I'm not a little kid anymore, Matt!" TK shouted, his frustration finally reaching his limit with his brother. "I don't need you to be looking out for me all the time. I can do things by myself now. I've grown up a lot since our time in the Digital World. For the last time, I'm going alone."

Matt felt like he had been shot in the heart with an arrow. TK had never yelled at him like that before, so it was difficult for him to wrap his head around what had happened. Before he could say anything, TK ran away from the statue and down the street past the station.

"TK, come back!" he cried as he gave chase through the bustling streets of Shibuya. He was lucky that either of them didn't get run over by a car or motorcycle as they ran past a pachinko parlor.

"AND STAY OUT!"

The two brothers ceased their running as the bouncer threw out two small figures from the parlor. One of them had a pumpkin for a head while the other was completely made of rock.

"Well, it's a good thing we were about to leave!" the pumpkin-headed one shook its fist at the door.

"Yeah!" the rock creature echoed. "We're never coming back here again!"

Turning heel, the two Digimon took one step away from the parlor before seeing the two boys before them. Their eyes widened in recognition once they saw the lightsabers on their waists.

"Destined Jedi!" Pumpkinmon gasped.

Matt and TK activated their lightsabers to defend themselves in case these two Digimon decided to cause them harm. Rather than attack them, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon raised their hands defensively.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Put the laser swords down!" Gotsumon cried.

"You're two of Myotismon's goons, aren't you?" Matt snapped, pointing his green lightsaber blade towards the two, causing them to cower even more. "What are you doing here?"

"We're not here to cause trouble! Honest!" Pumpkinmon pleaded, his pupils dilating as the green blade was inches from his face. "Myotismon sent us out to find the eighth Destined Jedi, but we're more interested in having fun! Please don't hurt us!"

After studying them for a second, Matt and TK deactivated their lightsabers. The two weren't threats to them.

"You mean you guys aren't out to find the eighth Destined Jedi?" Matt asked, just to make absolutely sure they were sincere in their denials.

Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon fiercely nodded yes, not wanting to be staring down the blades of the two Jedi's lightsabers again.

"Who cares about some kid when we can have a night out on the town," said Gotsumon as he and Pumpkinmon took off down the street, with Matt and TK hot on their heels.

* * *

Joe leaned back in his chair, giving a deep sigh of exhaustion as he put the phone back on the receiver. He had been calling names in address books all day and just about reached his limit. He needed a break.

Drink containers, instant ramen bowls, and other discarded packages from the local Lawson littered the entire desktop, making a mess of his otherwise clean room. Since he was going to be stuck at his desk most of the day, he made sure to stock up on plenty of supplies because he also had to study for his test the next day.

"This is crazy," he grumbled as his face planted itself on his desk with a loud thud. "No one moved from Hikarigaoka."

"Something wrong, Joe?"

Joe instantly shot up as he heard the voice. He looked towards his door, but it was still shut. He had the whole apartment to himself this evening. His parents were at work, his oldest brother, John, was away in Osaka interning for a hospital there, and his other brother Jim was out for the evening. Who could be talking to him?

"Look behind you, genius!" the snarky voice said, sounding more towards the floor.

The bespectacled boy turned in his chair and was shocked by the sight of Gomamon looking up at him.

"G-G-Gomamon," Joe gasped, surprised at the Digimon's appearance. It took him a moment to get himself together before replying, "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to see you," Gomamon smiled. "You okay? You look a little tired."

Joe leaned so far back in his chair that the back of it hit the tip of his desk. He took off his glasses to rub his eyes.

"I guess you can say that," he sighed. "I've been making phone calls all day for everyone in hopes of discovering the eighth Destined Jedi. So far, I've gotten nothing. Why does this kid have to be so hard to find?"

"You guys have to find that kid," said Gomamon, his mischievous face becoming serious. "The fate of both our worlds depends on it!"

"I know! I know!" Joe snapped. "Do you think we've just been doing nothing the whole time we've been home? We're trying!"

"You have no idea how bad it's getting here, Joe," Gomamon retorted. "Ever since you guys left, things have been getting worse. You and the others need to find the eighth child and return to the Digital World as soon as you can. We need you."

Joe stopped mid-retort as Gomamon's words finally registered with him.

"Trouble?" he asked. "What sort of trouble?"

A knock then came at his door.

"Joe?"

It was his brother Jim. Looks like he decided to come home early this evening. Joe panicked as he scrambled towards the door.

"It's my brother," he said in a hushed voice.

"Good luck, Joe," Gomamon replied. "May the Force be with you all."

Joe slid the door open before Jim could knock one more time. His brother was eighteen and was the handsomest among the three Kido boys, or so girls said.

Unlike John, Jim was quite popular with the girls with his well-chiseled face, teal hair cut in a bowl style that made him look like a lost member of the Beatles, and sleek glasses over deep blue eyes. Joe envied the fact his brother got the good looks in the family.

"What's up?" he asked with a forced grin, blocking the spot where Gomamon was.

"Whom were you talking to?" Jim asked, looking over his brother's shoulder, but not finding anything behind it.

"Nobody."

"I heard another voice beside yourself."

"Oh, just talking to myself," Joe replied meekly, his hand running through his hair nervously. "I'm finding that reciting things in a different voice helps you remember them better."

Jim chuckled.

"You're weird, little brother," he ruffled Joe's hair affectionately. "Don't overdo it though. I know Dad has been riding you hard lately, but don't forget to take a break once in a while."

"You got it."

Jim turned on his heel and walked away from the room. Joe sighed as he shut the door behind him.

"That was way too close," he breathed. "I don't know how long I can keep this up."

* * *

Matt and TK panted with exhaustion as they chased after Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon in order to keep the two Digimon from causing any more trouble. Already, they had to stop them from climbing up lampposts, stoplights, and now the four of them were running from an angry ice cream stand attendant. What had started as a simple night out had turned into a misadventure.

They turned down several alleyways to get away from the attendant. Checking behind them after turning down one, they didn't see or hear her behind them. They all gave a collective sigh of relief, thankful that they could stop running now.

"You guys are nothing but trouble," Matt panted.

Pumpkinmon didn't seem to care as he shoved the ice cream cone in his face.

"Want some ice cream?" he asked.

"No way!" Matt shoved it out of his face. "TK won't have any either, right?"

The younger blonde didn't hear his older brother's refusal. His blue eyes widened as they stared at the cone in Pumpkinmon's hand. Even though he knew he shouldn't have it, he couldn't help staring longingly at it. Matt slapped his hand down as he started to reach for it.

"Don't even think about it," his brother chastised.

Above them, a dark cloud began hovering like an evil omen. For a second, the brothers thought that it meant rain was coming. It was odd because the forecast didn't call for any rain in the area that evening, but they wouldn't be surprised since the weather has been abnormal for days.

Thunder crashed and lightning flashed as the cloud started to get thicker and thicker. As they prepared for the inevitable downpour of rain, a single lightning bolt crashed to the ground just a few steps away from them, filling the air around it with a loud popping noise.

Through the smoke, a tall figure began to emerge. Matt and TK felt cold as a chill ran down their spines, sensing a dark energy close by. Once the smoke cleared, the group came face to face with Myotismon.

Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon held onto each other, whimpering nervously as the vampire's cold blue eyes rested directly on them. He then glimpsed over at Matt and TK, who looked right back at him with defiant looks. Myotismon snickered with amusement at the two Destined Jedi before turning back to the two Digimon.

"Losers," he hissed. "Failures."

Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon stumbled over themselves as they groveled in submission, begging for forgiveness from their master.

"Don't say that, my lord," Pumpkinmon whimpered.

"Yeah, we were just about to find the eighth Destined Jedi," Gotsumon echoed.

"Well, where is he?" Myotismon asked impatiently. "The longer it takes to find him, then the greater chance the other Destined Jedi will find him before me. I cannot let that happen!"

"Yes, sir. We understand."

Myotismon glanced over at Matt and TK. Their hands floated down to the lightsabers on their waists, but did not grasp them. His lips curled into a smirk as an idea came to his mind.

"Redeem yourselves by destroying these two," he ordered.

"Y-yes, sir."

Before Matt and TK could take their lightsabers into their hands and activate them, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon charged right towards them with the intent to kill clear in their eyes. The blondes took off running as fast as their legs could carry them, the Force giving them a burst of speed as they tore through the streets of Shibuya.

After running for several blocks, they stopped, thinking that they had escaped the two Digimon. From above them, Pumpkinmon jumped down from an awning to block them from advancing any further. When they turned to go back the way they came, Gotsumon was there to cut them off.

"Get behind me," Matt ordered TK as he activated his green lightsaber and held it outwards to ward the two Digimon off. The two backed up into the empty foundation of a building under construction.

"It's nothing personal," Gotsumon sneered. "Just business."

The two sides stared each other down for several, tense seconds as Matt and TK waited to see what the two Digimon would do. After a brief moment, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon's faces ceased their bloodthirsty glares, like it was a joke all along.

"I've had enough," the pumpkin-headed Digimon sighed. "We give up."

Matt and TK were surprised by this turn of events.

"Wait, you mean you don't want to fight us?" asked the older blonde.

"Nah, no way!" Gotsumon shook his head. "Someone always ends up getting hurt in the end anyway. Let's not fight anymore."

"Yeah," Pumpkinmon agreed. "Want to hang out with us?"

Matt didn't expect this. He wasn't sure how to respond to the question, especially since two seconds ago the two Digimon threatened to kill him and TK. He was about to give his answer when a crash of lightning hit their ears. Myotismon was back.

"Quick! Hide!" Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon quickly shoved the brothers into a concealed corner of the site. As Myotismon finally appeared, the two stood at attention.

"Where are those Destined Jedi?" Myotismon demanded as he leered at the two smaller Digimon before him.

"They were here just a second ago, my lord," Pumpkinmon replied, trying to keep himself calm as Myotismon's cold blue eyes gazed right into him. "They must have escaped. They were too fast for us."

"That's right," Gotsumon nodded. "We were…"

"SILENCE!" Myotismon roared. If these two thought they could play him for a fool, they were sadly mistaken. He could sense the two boys hiding behind the wall nearest him, so there was no use for his minions to try and lie to him.

"You two have served your purpose," he quietly hissed, sounding like a snake about to launch itself at its prey. His red lightsaber pierced the black of the night, looking like the scythe of impending doom.

Despite their fear, Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon were not going to go down without a fight, even if it likely resulted in them being disintegrated into data.

"Pumpkinmon Power!" Pumpkinmon cried as he made a giant pumpkin appear above Myotismon's head, intent on dropping it on him. The vampire sliced it into two pieces without batting an eyelash.

"Rock Fist Attack!" Gotsumon cried as he launched a rock from his fist, which was halted in mid-air by Myotismon's outstretched hand before combusting internally. Nothing was left between him and the two of them.

Matt and TK turned away in horror as two slashes, followed by strangled screams, reached their ears. They didn't need to look to know what had happened. All that was left was a rock and hatchet before disappearing in a burst of data.

Matt hugged TK closer to him as they heard Myotismon approach like a lion stalking its prey. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon had tried to save them by sacrificing themselves. They truly were friends all along. Their deaths would not go forgotten if it was the last thing Matt ever did.

"Destined Jedi, come out to play," Myotismon called in a singsong voice.

With tears blurring his vision, Matt stepped from behind the wall to look Myotismon dead in the eyes. The vampire could sense the anger and hatred flowing through the older blonde-haired boy. He smirked.

"You will pay for what you have done," Matt growled as his green lightsaber flashed in the blink of an eye.

He unleashed a deep, guttural growl of determination as he charged at the vampire, putting all of his anger into each strike. Myotismon was no slouch with a lightsaber, however, and met each strike with a well-timed block. Matt was in such a state of rage that he didn't have as much control over his strikes as he normally would.

During a saber lock, Myotismon reached out and grabbed Matt by the throat, pinning him to a brick wall. Matt desperately tried to pry the vampire's hand off of him, but his grip was like iron.

Running out of other options, he kicked him in the stomach. Myotismon reeled back from the blow, releasing Matt's throat in the process as the two resumed their duel.

TK watched from behind the wall as their sabers clashed in a whirling display of color. Matt seemed like he was holding his own just fine, but he could sense his brother's anger grow almost dangerously as the duel progressed. It was beginning to make him nervous.

As Matt and Myotismon locked sabers, the vampire moved his fangs inches from Matt.

"I sense great fear in you, young Jedi," he taunted with a smirk. "I can feel the hate, anger, and frustration swirling within you. Is it possible you have been harboring these feelings towards someone?"

Matt desperately pushed back against the vampire's blade, but the sabers barely moved an inch.

"You don't know what I've been through," he spat as he pushed Myotismon's blade away. "Stay out of my head!"

But the damage had already been done. Matt's strikes became wild and erratic, unlike the usual in-control and calculating style that he had perfected over his training, allowing his opponent to defend against them with ease.

Myotismon sidestepped Matt's next strike before unleashing a torrent of Force lightning. Due to missing wildly with his attack, Matt was not prepared to defend himself against the lightning as it engulfed him.

His screams of pain echoed across the walls of the surrounding buildings. Behind the wall, TK couldn't bear to watch as his brother was being tortured.

"You fool!" Myotismon roared over the boy's screams. "I can see your future. You and your little friends have already been condemned to your fates. You cannot escape it!"

"STOP IT!" TK screamed as he ran out from behind the wall, lightsaber drawn, and charged towards the vampire.

"TK, no!" Matt cried as Myotismon turned on the younger blonde. The lightning stopped as he drew his lightsaber and stopped TK's strike.

"Foolish of you, my young friend," said Myotismon to TK. "Now you can join your brother."

"Just try and make me," TK retorted as the two briefly dueled. The young boy was able to handle himself just fine as he skillfully defended against Myotismon's powerful attacks, giving Matt enough time to recover before joining the duel himself.

Just like in the movie that they had seen just an hour ago, the two of them surrounded the evil Digimon, ready to destroy him themselves, but Myotismon had other plans.

"Foolish children," he snickered. "You think you can defeat me? Well, you'll have to wait for another chance."

Before Matt and TK could do anything else, Myotismon flew away faster than any jet could ever go. They watched as he disappeared out of sight, disappointed that they didn't get a chance to destroy him.

"Are you okay, Matt?" TK asked as they deactivated their lightsabers.

Matt nodded as he replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry. We'll see him again soon. I guarantee it."

"What do we do now?"

"Let's get you home, little brother. Mom's probably getting worried about you."

* * *

It took two stops on the train before they rolled into Sangenjaya station. It was almost nine o'clock, way past TK's bedtime, but the two brothers didn't seem to care that much. Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon's sacrifice weighed heavily on their minds the entire trip.

"I kinda miss those guys, Matt," TK said as they stepped off the train and onto the platform. "They were funny."

Matt nodded wordlessly, pushing TK along as they navigated their way through the station. The two walked up the stairs and onto the busy sidewalk, looking around anxiously for their mother. She said that she would meet them at the intersection, but she was nowhere to be found.

"Boys!"

The two turned to see a blonde-haired woman running towards them. TK took off from Matt's grip with a cry of "Mama!" as the older blonde watched while Mrs. Takaishi embraced her younger son, kissing his cheek.

"Are you okay, TK?" she asked, checking him over. "Did you have a good time at camp?"

"Oh, the best!" TK smiled happily. "Matt and I had so much fun. He even took me to see Phantom Menace tonight."

Matt almost avoided making eye contact with his mother as she looked over at him. He and his mother did not have the best relationship compared to him and his father. Maybe it was out of him feeling she was responsible for the divorce, or maybe it was because they never saw each other much. Either way, Matt couldn't say with certainty where they stood.

"Thank you for bringing him home safely, Matt," Mrs. Takaishi said with a thankful smile.

"Yeah, sure," he shrugged in response. "No problem. Have a good night. I'll see you later, TK."

"Bye, Matt," TK waved after his brother as he turned back towards the subway station. He received a wink that conveyed the message, "May the Force be with you" as Matt disappeared down the stairwell.

Above them, two shooting stars darted across the night sky, coinciding at almost the same time. Whatever happened next, Matt and TK weren't sure, but what they did know was that they should never take their friends for granted.

* * *

 **So a bit of a sad chapter. Plenty of stuff to chew on here: Joe has been unsuccessful so far in calling people, Matt and TK get into a Shibuya misadventure before Matt takes TK back home, and the eighth child has still not been discovered. What will happen next? Find out on the next Destined Jedi.**

 **First, some explanations.**

 **1\. Lawson is a popular convenience store in Japan, known for lots of great desserts. Go look at some YouTube videos of Lawson reviews to get an idea. I'll soon experience it myself to tell y'all how it is.**

 **2\. As most of you probably know, besides Jim, Joe had another brother who did not make an appearance in the series. His Japanese name is Shuu, so I wanted a name that could sound close to it. To keep in line with the J.K. initials of the Kido men, I came up with the name John. I think it worked well. What do you all think?**

 **3\. The way Myotismon said "Come out to play" was a direct reference to the movie "Warriors".**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as we go along. The eighth child is about to be revealed coming up. Stay tuned for that. See you all next week...maybe. I have my GRE exams for grad school next Saturday so I need to stay on top of studying for those. Guess I'm becoming Joe right now XD If all else fails, I'll update next Sunday. Just know I will do my best to give you guys the chapter you all deserve from me. Ta-ta.**


	29. The Eighth Destined Jedi

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yeah, that was totally hilarious XD**

 **Music Chick: I do have to agree with that. At least their deaths weren't for nothing. Hey, if TK can kill Devimon, then he can handle anything XD That just may serve him well going forward *hint, hint* ;-)**

* * *

 **Welcome one and all to yet another chapter. This is the moment I'm sure many of you have been waiting for. I'll be out taking my GREs most of today, so wish me luck. Here we go ;-)**

* * *

The phone rang just as Tai walked back inside his apartment. After their encounter with Skullmeramon at Tokyo Tower earlier that day, he and Izzy continued to search around the area with Mimi and Sora until it got dark. Sadly, they couldn't find any leads on a kid who could potentially be the eighth Destined Jedi.

"I'm home!" he cried as the phone continued to ring.

"Tai, you're late!" Mrs. Kamiya cried from the kitchen as she washed dishes. The family wasn't sure when he would get back so they went ahead and had dinner without him. "Leftovers are in the fridge if you're hungry."

"Thanks."

He darted towards the phone and picked it up just in the nick of time. "Hello? Kamiya residence."

" _Tai,"_ Joe answered.

"Hey, Joe. What's up? Did you find any leads on the eighth Jedi yet?"

" _No, I didn't have any luck. There weren't any other students who moved from Hikarigaoka."_

Tai suppressed a growl of frustration. This kid was like a needle in a haystack at this point. If they didn't find him soon, then Myotismon would and have him killed. They couldn't waste any more time.

"That can't be right!" he stubbornly replied. "There has to be someone!"

" _Well, whoever it was, they weren't in my address book,"_ Joe retorted. _"Check your own book before you start yelling at me."_

"What did I do with that thing anyway," Tai muttered to himself.

Joe must have heard him because he could hear him slap a hand to his face, followed by a groan of exasperation before replying, " _You still haven't found it? It's only the fate of the world depending on you. Find that thing now!"_

"I'll find it! Geez, get off my butt!"

From the couch, Kari was reading a Hello Kitty manga and watching the conversation going on over the phone. She could sense the urgency and desperation in her brother to find this mysterious child he and his friends were looking for. She wished she could help.

Miko had finally returned after being gone all day long. Where he was, the little girl had no idea, but she was glad to have him back as he hopped onto the couch.

" _We have to find that eighth child soon, Tai. I mean it. Gomamon appeared to me tonight and said that things are getting worse in the Digital World. They need us back there as soon as possible to help."_

Tai's eyes widened when he heard that news. If things were getting bad back in the Digital World, then they had to search even harder.

"Then tomorrow we will just have to be more thorough in our search," he said. "You're coming with us, okay? I'm sure studying can be on hold for a couple of hours."

" _Fine,"_ Joe sighed. _"Talk to you later."_

Tai put the phone down with a resounding slam before sprinting towards his room. Kari could hear the sound of rummaging and things being dumped onto the floor. She rolled her eyes as she took Miko into her lap.

"Miko, our room is messier than your litter box," she chuckled as she stroked the cat's fur, causing the cat to purr in delight.

* * *

From across the way, on a rooftop, Gatomon's eyes frowned with envy as she watched the girl shower the cat with affection. If only she was as pampered and spoiled during her life as Miko was right now. Maybe she would have turned out differently, but it was far too late to think about that.

If Kari really was the eighth Destined Jedi, then she had to be destroyed. Why couldn't she finish the job earlier? Her claws burned with the sensation of unfinished business as she thought back to the moment where she could have ended the Destined Jedi once and for all by destroying her. It just didn't make any sense why she couldn't do it.

It was almost like Gatomon was looking for something, or some _one,_ because whenever she looked at Kari, she felt a strange pull towards her. She couldn't explain why that was because they had never met until today, but it almost felt like they were long-lost friends in another life.

All she knew during her life was fear and torture at the hands of Myotismon. She suffered many scars, both internally and externally, before she hardened into his most deadly and loyal servant. Even with the abuse she suffered, Gatomon never had to wander aimlessly through the Digital World ever again; she had shelter, food, and all the other basic necessities, so she never asked for much else.

Pushing back one of her gloves, she looked down at a large X-shaped furless patch on her paw. It was a scar that Myotismon gave her when she was insubordinate one day. It was a reminder to never disobey her master ever again, lest she risk being destroyed.

"Thinking about the good old days?" a low male voice called to her as Gatomon heard something land on the rooftop.

A human-like doll figure with a large wizard's hat on top of its head, covering long brown hair that spilled out from under it, stood a few steps away from her. The hat was adorned with a skull on the front. The cloak around its neck completely covered its face and mouth, leaving its bright green eyes as the only feature that could be seen. A staff with a miniature sun perched at the end laid tightly grasped in its glove-covered hand.

Gatomon groaned under her breath at the newcomer.

"How many times do I have to tell you never to read my thoughts, Wizardmon?" she hissed. "What do you want?"

"I'm sorry, Gatomon," the wizard apologized, his eyes flashing with contrition. "But your troubled spirit radiates off of you like a hot summer day. Do you want to talk about what is troubling you?"

"No, now leave me alone," the cat snapped. "Shouldn't you be on the lookout for the eighth Destined Jedi? If those brats find him before we do, it'll be because of your failure to stay alert on the job."

"Very well." The wizard bowed his head before floating away, leaving Gatomon alone on the rooftop once again as she continued to watch Kari and Miko together.

* * *

Mrs. Kamiya finished drying the dishes as she watched her two children sitting on the couch, transfixed by the television, when there was a knock on the door. Moving from her spot in front of the sink, she answered it.

"Hi, Mrs. Kamiya," Sora greeted with a pleasant smile.

"Sora," the woman greeted with a friendly smile of her own. "What are you doing here so late? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"I remembered I left a CD here and was just coming by to get it," Sora said. Actually, she needed to get an explanation from Tai as to why he was so skittish today. He was hiding something, and she was determined to find out what it was.

"I can get it for you if you want," Mrs. Kamiya offered.

"No, it's okay. I'll do it," the girl insisted. "It's not a big deal. Plus I needed to get away from home for a while."

"If you insist," Mrs. Kamiya shrugged her shoulders as she stepped aside, allowing Sora to enter into the genkan to remove her shoes. As she walked into the living room, Tai turned around in time to see her as he and Kari were watching a news update.

"Sora," he gasped, surprised at her appearance. "What are you doing here?"

"I came by to get that _thing_ I left in your room," she replied, her eyes drifting towards the bedroom as a cue for him to follow her.

He looked back with a blank look, not getting what she was trying to convey.

"What thing?" he asked. "I don't remember you leaving anything here."

"You know. That _thing_ that I left here last time."

Sora wanted to strangle him at that moment because he still wasn't getting it. She had to take matters into her own hands it seemed, much to her annoyance. Grabbing him by the arm, she pulled him into the room.

At that moment, Kari finally turned away from the television to acknowledge the auburn-haired girl's presence.

"Hi, Sora," she greeted with an adorable smile.

It was at that moment that Sora felt a large amount of Force energy coming from the girl. She froze for a second to be absolutely sure that was what she felt. It couldn't be…could it? Is this what Tai was hiding?

Her eyes widened in nervous realization as it finally hit her like a ton of bricks. This was what he couldn't tell them earlier in the day. Oh, he was going to get it!

"Oh, hi, Kari," she responded before too long. "Hope you're feeling better."

"Just fine, thank you."

"Great," said Sora with a forced smile as she shut the door behind her, leaving the two Destined Jedi alone in the room together.

"Sora, what's this all about?" Tai demanded, trying to keep his voice low so that his mother didn't come lurking around. "This isn't like you to show up unannounced."

"I'll be the one asking questions here, Tai," she snapped. "What are you hiding? There's no use trying to keep secrets from me. Either you tell me now or I'll find out later."

Tai was caught off guard by her line of questioning, feeling like he was on trial and she was the lawyer cross-examining him.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"What was the big secret you didn't want to share with us today in the park?" Sora pressed further. "Come on, tell me."

Tai walked around the room to check for the presence of anyone else who may have disguised their Force energy to evade their detection, like one of Myotismon's minions. He checked every possible entryway into his bedroom: door, window, and any other nooks and crannies until he decided it was secure enough.

With a low voice, he said, "I think Kari's the eighth Destined Jedi."

Sora didn't react for what seemed like an eternity. Tai couldn't tell what her expression was because it was so unreadable with her arms folded across her chest. With a deep breath, she let it all loose.

"YOU IDIOT!" she roared, slapping him as hard as she could. She slapped Tai so hard that he was sent falling to the floor. Fast footsteps reached the door in a second.

"Is everything all right in here?" Mrs. Kamiya asked, sticking her head into the room. "I heard a scream."

"Yeah, just fine, Mom." Tai nodded, clutching his burning cheek.

"Everything's fine, Mrs. Kamiya," Sora echoed. "I thought we found my CD, but we didn't."

"Sora, you should probably get on home. I don't want your mother to worry about you being out this late."

"It's okay. I won't be much longer. Once we find my CD, I'll be gone."

"Okay," said Mrs. Kamiya as she finally closed the door, allowing both children to sigh in relief.

"What the heck was that for!" Tai shouted in a hushed voice.

"You knew it was Kari this whole time, and you never bothered to tell us today when you had the chance?" Sora said through gritted teeth, her crimson eyes narrowed in the most terrifying glare she could muster. "So basically we went on a wild goose chase around Tokyo because you didn't have the courage to tell us that Kari is the child we were looking for?"

"Hear me out, ok?"

"When did you know? Don't lie to me, Tai. Tell me everything."

After taking a few moments to gather himself, he finally replied, "She knows things that only we know, such as the eighth child. It all came to me after our battle with Devimon and I was sucked into the portal that transported me back here. I told Kari everything that had happened to us by that point, not even mentioning the eighth Destined Jedi once. After I got Izzy's message telling me not to come back, I sat down on my bed. When Kari came in with some watermelon for me, she told me to cheer up and that I'd find the eighth child."

"Maybe she's just smarter than you," Sora teased.

"Now's not the time for jokes, Sora. Somehow she knew about it without me telling her. I didn't want to believe it at first, but my suspicions have only grown since we've been back home. The fact that we couldn't find anything today only confirms my fears."

"Then why didn't you tell us?"

"Because I didn't want to end up being wrong," he sighed as he looked down towards the floor, his bare feet shuffling nervously. "What if I told you guys that it was her and it turned out not to be? We would have just been wasting more time. Plus, I didn't want to put her in any unwanted danger. She's just a kid; she shouldn't be worrying about things like this. I didn't want anything to happen to her."

Sora sat down on the bottom bunk as she tried to sort through all of this new information. While his intentions were certainly noble, it didn't take away from the fact that they wasted a whole day searching when the eighth Destined Jedi was right in front of their faces this whole time. They could have discovered her much sooner and they wouldn't be in the current position they were in.

"So, what do we do now?" she finally said.

Tai kneeled down in front of her until his eyes were aligned with hers. "Tomorrow, we'll get everyone together and test Kari ourselves," he replied. "If she is indeed the eighth child, then we will know the instant she passes the test."

"What kind of test?"

"I'll think about it. I'll tell you tomorrow at soccer practice."

Sora nodded. "Ok. Sounds like a plan."

Before she got up to leave, Tai gave her his new Metallica CD as cover for her fib. As she left the apartment, bidding Mrs. Kamiya and Kari good night, the telephone rang.

Thinking it was Joe, Tai answered it in less than two seconds.

"Yeah," he answered.

" _Tai!"_

It was Matt, not Joe. Tai stood at attention because the tone of Matt's voice worried him.

"What's up, Matt?"

" _You are not going to believe what I've been through tonight,"_ said the blonde-haired boy. _"Myotismon is on the warpath. I just got back from taking TK home to my mom, but we ran into the old bloodsucker in Shibuya. He even took out two of his own flunkies. We have to hurry and find the eighth child as soon as possible!"_

Tai chewed on his lower lip, unsure if he should tell Matt what he had just told Sora. His eyes slowly drifted over to Kari as she chewed on a slice of watermelon, completely ignorant to the situation that was going on.

" _Tai, are you still there? Answer me!"_ Matt yelled.

He shook his head free of the spell that had overcome him before replying, "Sorry. Got distracted for a second. I'm sure that the eighth child is closer than we think."

" _You sound like you know who it is. Who is it?"_

Not wanting Kari to overhear, Tai once again moved to the bedroom before resuming the conversation.

"That's what I was waiting to tell you," he continued. "I want all of you to meet me at the park again tomorrow. I'll be bringing my little sister, Kari, with me because I want us to test her."

" _Test her for what?"_ Matt asked impatiently. _"Are you saying-?"_

"Yes. I think she could be the eighth Destined Jedi."

" _If you're wrong about this-"_

"I'm not! I didn't want to believe it either, but we don't have much of a choice. We're running out of time, Matt."

* * *

Gatomon could hardly contain her annoyance as she sensed Wizardmon's presence nearby. How many times did she have to tell him that she didn't want him in her sight? Looks like she was just going to have to tell him off again.

"What do you want, Wizardmon?" she demanded as she heard his boots make contact with the rooftop. "Why do you insist on bothering me this evening?"

The wizard shook off her harsh words as he reached under his cloak. Gatomon's eyes widened when he revealed what he had in his hand. A lightsaber.

"Where did you get that?" she breathed, unable to grasp what she was seeing in front of her.

"I found it in a crow's nest in the woods nearby," replied Wizardmon. "It wasn't easy to find this thing, but I did. DemiDevimon almost caught me with it, but I managed to ward him off."

"Then that means the eighth Destined Jedi must be somewhere near there," Gatomon thought out loud before giving the wizard a small smile. "You have done me a great service tonight, Wizardmon. Now we just have to find the eighth child and destroy them."

"Hold on a minute," Wizardmon held a hand up, not wanting to get the cat's hopes up. "I think you know the location of the eighth Destined Jedi yourself, Gatomon."

The cat's eyebrows rose in confusion, not understanding what her friend was talking about. How could she know when the child was when she had spent the whole day looking for it?

"What do you mean?"

"I think the identity of the child is somewhere in your own heart. I believe that you buried a part of yourself a long time ago, and you refuse to accept the truth."

"What truth?"

"The truth that you were meant to guide the Destined Jedi you were bonded to," Wizardmon explained after pausing for a second. "When you were born, you were chosen to become the guardian of a Destined Jedi, but they never came with the others."

"Hold on a second," Gatomon interrupted. Hearing this sounded very familiar. "I think I'm starting to remember now. I remember waiting in the Dark Forest for someone to come and find me, but they never came. I felt so alone that I left in search of that person myself, hoping to find them before it was too late, but instead I found Myotismon. Ever since, I've had this empty hole in my heart, but I don't know who was supposed to find me."

A cry from across the way drew their attention away from the conversation. Looking out over the ledge, the two of them saw Kari ushering Miko back inside after he tried to get out through the sliding glass doors. Seeing the way that Gatomon looked at the girl, Wizardmon got an idea.

"I think your search is over, Gatomon," he said as he floated over towards the balcony of the adjacent apartment.

Kari gasped as she saw a mysterious figure with a wizard hat on its head flying towards her. How was it able to do that without any help?

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Fear not, child," said the wizard creature. "My name is Wizardmon."

"How are you able to fly like that?"

As Wizardmon struggled to come up with an explanation, Gatomon came flying towards them, landing on the ground after performing a flip in mid-air. Rather than pester the wizard, Kari turned to the familiar cat from earlier.

"Hello again," she greeted the feline. "Why did you run away last time?"

Before Gatomon could answer, Wizardmon dumped the lightsaber onto her paw and pushed her towards the girl, her paw outstretched. Curious as to what the object was, Kari reached out to touch it. Once her hand wrapped around the grip and made contact with Gatomon's paw, a flash of pink light exploded. Once the light died down, a symbol that looked like a star had appeared on Kari's arm.

"What's this?" she wondered as she inspected the symbol.

"Wizardmon, is this the eighth Destined Jedi?" Gatomon breathed, unable to believe what she was seeing. When Kari touched her paw, it felt like a dam had burst in her mind because all of her memories started returning to her.

The wizard nodded. "Yes it is."

"It's all starting to come back to me now," said Gatomon. "When the other Destined Jedi came to the Digital World, I couldn't sense the one I was supposed to guide so I waited until they arrived at the forest. When she didn't come, I went on my own to search for her."

"What does this have to do with me?" Kari asked, confused as to what the cat was talking about.

"It means that you are the one I was meant to guide, Kari," she replied. "It was you."

* * *

Tai sensed a disturbance in the Force nearby as he skimmed through his address book. After turning his room upside down for the past ten minutes, he had finally found it.

Looking up from the book, he turned to look out the sliding glass doors that connected his room to the balcony. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary for a moment until he turned to his left. His face immediately paled as he saw Kari with Gatomon and an unfamiliar wizard-like Digimon.

His big brother instincts kicked into gear as he slid open the door and dashed towards them.

"Kari, get away!" he cried.

After two steps, he saw that Kari had a lightsaber in her hand before his eyes drifted towards her arm. A star symbol greeted his gaze, which confirmed his worst fears. His vision had come true.

' _No,'_ he thought, his eyes widening in horror.

"What's the matter, Tai?" his sister asked, wondering why he was asking her to get away from the two Digimon.

"Those two are evil Digimon!"

"Hold on a minute! You've got it all wrong!" Wizardmon replied defensively, but his words fell on deaf ears as Tai activated his lightsaber.

He was about to run Wizardmon through when the Digimon unleashed a powerful Force attack that knocked him flat on his back. Tai reeled in surprise, not expecting such a powerful attack from him.

"Tai, hold on!" Kari cried as her brother started to get back to his feet. "Don't hurt them. Gatomon has been looking for me, the eighth Destined Jedi."

Tai couldn't believe his ears once those words left his sister's lips. Even though he had long suspected it by now, it still was a shock to hear it coming from her directly. He never wanted Kari to be involved in any of this, but now that she was, he was going to do whatever it took to prevent Myotismon from finding her.

"How do I know that you won't double-cross us and turn Kari in to Myotismon?" he turned to Wizardmon.

"I don't work for Myotismon," replied the wizard. "My only loyalty is to Gatomon."

"Who's Myotismon?" Kari asked. "And why is he looking for me?"

The mere mention of the vampire's name caused all the color in Gatomon's face to disappear within seconds, even though there wasn't much to begin with. She turned away from everyone to stare out into the night.

"He's a tyrant," she said, almost no louder than a whisper. "If you dare get in his way, he will not hesitate to destroy you. You cannot imagine what he has done to me and others."

Turning back to look at Kari, she continued, "He will not rest until he finds you, Kari. I can't let that happen."

"What do you suggest we do?" Tai asked, wondering what the cat had in mind. "Now that Kari has been revealed to be the eighth Destined Jedi, we need to find a way back to the Digital World as soon as possible. Things are getting bad there."

"No. Myotismon must be destroyed before you can leave," Gatomon returned. "He will use all of his resources to make sure that Kari is found. That fog you were seeing today is part of his plan to cut the district off from the rest of the city. If you leave now, he'll just kill everyone here instead."

A shiver went down Tai's spine as his thoughts dwelled on the vision he had of Odaiba being destroyed. Gatomon was right. Even if they took their leave now, it wouldn't stop the vampire's rampage of destruction that was inevitable. He knew what had to be done.

He took a deep breath before saying, "Ok. Let's come up with a plan for tomorrow. I'll go with you all tomorrow night to Myotismon's hideout and help you destroy that bloodsucker. Besides, I have a bone to pick with him."

"Me too!" Kari cried, not wanting to be left out. "I want to come too."

"No," Tai immediately shook his head. "You're not ready yet, Kari. We can't risk having Myotismon find out that you are the eighth child. He'll hurt you, and I can't let that happen."

Kari's face twisted into a conflicted expression. She wasn't a defenseless little baby, no matter how much her brother thought so. She could stand up for herself just fine. But if this Myotismon was as big and mean as Gatomon said he was, she could understand why Tai felt that way.

"Okay," she sighed in concession. "Just please be careful."

"You know me," he said with a wink.

"We will meet down in the park tomorrow night to lead you to the hideout," said Wizardmon as he and Gatomon floated away together. "Tomorrow is the day that we end Myotismon's reign of terror for good. May the Force be with you, young Jedi."

Tai and Kari watched as they disappeared into the night. Now that he too had blood in the game the way that Matt did with TK, Tai knew that it was only about to get more dangerous going forward.

Even so, he was willing to do whatever it took to protect Kari from Myotismon's clutches.

* * *

 **The board is set and the pieces are moving. Will Tai, along with Wizardmon and Gatomon, finally put an end to Myotismon's reign of terror? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **So yes, Kari is the eighth Destined Jedi, much to Tai's shock and horror. His premonition came true, but what about the others he has had so far? Find out as we go along. Next chapter will be both original and building off of the events that happened at the end of this episode and the next episode, so it'll be kind of a bridge chapter.**

 **As always, be sure to leave a review for this chapter and subscribe to either me or the story. You guys rock! We are now over 4,300 views, which is incredible. Keep reading on, everyone, and I will do my best to give you the best chapters possible. See you all next week.**


	30. City of Monsters

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yup, unfortunately so. Thank you very much for that. One last setup chapter before the fun begins ;-)**

 **Music Chick: Yes he is XD It's what he gets for being a bungling blockhead sometimes.**

* * *

 **Welcome to yet another chapter as we keep trucking along. Now that Kari is the eighth child, what will happen next** **when Tai, along with Wizardmon and Gatomon, plan to destroy Myotismon for good? Find out...now!**

* * *

Tai yawned loudly as he splashed water on his face after using the bathroom. He slept horribly last night after it was revealed that Kari was the eighth Destined Jedi. He had suspected it to be her, but it still came as a shock when it was proven to be true.

He kept tossing and turning all night long, unable to get to sleep due to all the things that weighed on his mind. Once Myotismon would find out that the eighth child was nearby, it wouldn't be long until he would zero in on the area and find Kari.

If that happened…

Tai shuddered just from the thought of it. He needed to protect Kari at all costs. Not even a hearty breakfast of an omelet, miso soup, rice, and matcha green tea could put him in a good mood as he headed off to early morning soccer practice.

At soccer practice, Tai went through the motions rather than putting forth any extra effort. He was so distracted by all that was going on that he couldn't concentrate. Several times he would miss on a wide-open penalty kick or mess up a drill, which was completely unlike him; he usually was dependable when it came to giving effort in practice.

"Kamiya, what's going on?" the coach asked during a water break. "Why aren't you focused out there?"

"I don't know, coach," he replied. "I just can't concentrate today."

"Ok, sit this next drill out so you can get your head right. We've got an important game next week, and we need you to be sharp. Prove to me that you deserve to be called captain."

"Yes, sir," Tai bowed his head in understanding, taking another sip of water as he sat on the bench.

Sora came over to take a seat beside him, knowing exactly what was running through his mind.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Tai took a deep breath before replying, "Our worst fears were realized. It has officially been confirmed that Kari is the eighth Destined Jedi. Gatomon showed up with a lightsaber and it reacted to Kari touching it."

"Isn't Gatomon one of Myotismon's henchmen?" Sora questioned, not liking the sound of where Tai was going. "How do we know she hasn't already told Myotismon about this?"

"I initially thought that too," he said. "But it turns out she's the eighth Digimon guardian. She was in the forest waiting for Kari to come, but she never did, so Gatomon left to find Kari on her own. Instead, she found Myotismon and got to where she is now. She was with this wizard-like Digimon called Wizardmon, who has been protecting her this whole time."

Sora sighed as her head started to swim. This was just getting more and more confusing each day. First, Gatomon is an enemy of theirs, then she turns out to be an ally.

"So what are we going to do about Kari?" she asked. "Have you thought of a test for her yet?"

"Actually, there's no need for us to test her," he said.

"What?" Sora replied, caught off guard by his statement. Wasn't it he who suggested that they test Kari to be sure that she was the eighth Destined Jedi? "What changed?"

"Everything. I'll call the others after we're done here to tell them to meet in the park like yesterday. I'll bring Kari with me and have her show everyone else that she's the eighth Jedi."

"How?"

"By having her present her lightsaber and the symbol on her arm. There's no need to test her since it's been confirmed that it's her."

With one last nod of her head, Sora got up to rejoin the team for the next drill while Tai thought about his plan of attack for later when he, Wizardmon, and Gatomon planned to invade Myotismon's lair and destroy him for good. The sooner they did that, the sooner that they all could go back to the Digital World and take care of business there.

Soccer practice passed by uneventfully after that, and soon almost all of the Destined Jedi gathered in the park a couple hours later once again. Since TK was back in Sangenjaya, he was unable to join them.

Tai introduced Kari to everyone else, save for Sora because they had known each other for as long as Tai and Sora had known one another.

"Why did you bring your sister here, Tai?" Joe asked, wondering what was going on. "Weren't we going to go around the area looking for the eighth child?"

"Joe!" Matt hissed, elbowing Joe's side to silence him. He didn't want Kari to hear about the eighth Jedi and wonder what they were talking about.

"It's okay, Matt," Tai assured. "She already knows."

The group went quiet in stunned silence. Tai nudged Kari forward to stand in the middle of the circle that the group had formed. She looked back at him for reassurance, which he gave with a comforting nod of his head.

With her brother's assurance, she reached down to her side to take the lightsaber into her hand. A collective gasp went through the group as Kari presented it to them. Joe's eyes went so wide that it almost caused his glasses to fall, Izzy almost dropped his computer with a gasp of "Prodigious."

"Now show them the symbol on your arm, Kari," Tai instructed.

Kari nodded and turned her arm over as everyone gathered around her for a closer look at the star on her arm. They all could feel the Force flowing through the girl like water churning down a river bend. It was official: this girl was the eighth Destined Jedi.

Everyone turned to glare at Tai.

"You couldn't have told us this sooner, Tai?" Matt demanded, grabbing the boy by his shirt.

"What was I supposed to do?" Tai retorted, shoving Matt off of him. "Put my little sister in danger on some suspicion that she may be the person we were looking for? I didn't want to believe it."

"So all those phone calls were for nothing?" Joe added, sharing everyone's ire at their leader for keeping this from them. "Time I could have spent studying for my test tonight was instead spent making phone calls that were unnecessary. You could have spared us the trouble by telling us when you had the chance!"

"And I had to walk for hours in oppressive heat!" Mimi screeched.

Everyone began shouting their complaints to Tai until Kari's voice interrupted the onslaught of grievances.

"It wasn't Tai's fault," she said as everyone turned to look at her. "If you want someone to blame, blame me. I should have made it known sooner to you all, otherwise the monsters wouldn't be causing so much trouble."

No one said a word for almost a minute until Sora stepped forward with an assuring smile.

"No one is blaming you, Kari," she said as she bent down to the girl's level. "No one is in control of these things. Destiny has a tendency to show up when you least expect it, sometimes at inconvenient moments. Never did we suspect that it would be you, but we're not mad at you."

"You have no idea how long we have been searching for you, kid," said Matt as he stepped forward. "In order for this prophecy to work, we need all eight Destined Jedi together to combat this evil that we have been fighting. It hasn't been easy; you could almost say we've gone to hell and back, but now everything has fallen into place."

Mimi squealed in delight as she took the younger girl into a bone-crushing hug.

"It's so nice to have another girl on the team!" she exclaimed as she swung Kari around, despite the girl's protests.

"Mimi, let her go!" Tai ordered. "You're gonna crush her if you're not careful."

"Oops. Sorry," she said as she put Kari down, smoothing out any wrinkles in Kari's shirt from her spirited hug, while the younger girl giggled.

As Tai explained what happened the night before, the others listened intently as he told them that Gatomon ended up being the other Digimon on the wall that Gennai had shown Izzy.

"Now that Kari has been discovered, we have to destroy Myotismon so we can go back to the Digital World," he concluded. "Wizardmon, Gatomon, and I are going to end this once and for all tonight."

"Let us come with you," said Sora. "We're a team, and we'll finish Myotismon as a team."

Tai shook his head. "No. I have to do this on my own."

"Don't be stupid!" Matt argued, agreeing with Sora. "There's strength in numbers, and the rest of us have been itching to get our hands on that bloodsucker."

"I said no, and I mean it!"

The loudness of Tai's voice caused everyone to go quiet. He hardly ever raised his voice with them unless it was to get a point across. They couldn't understand why he would want to do something like this without them.

"Why?" Matt asked through gritted teeth, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Why won't you let us help you?"

As Tai surveyed their faces, he could sense their desire to help him. While it was reassuring to know that he had a group of people he could depend on to help, he couldn't risk everyone's safety. Kari's safety was especially important because not only did Myotismon mark her for death, but she was also his younger sister. He couldn't put her in any more danger than she was already in.

With a sigh, he finally answered Matt's question. "There are some things that cannot be explained, Matt. I have to do this because it's my responsibility to protect Kari, not yours. If you had to do something alone to protect TK, I'd respect your wish to take care of it. I know you guys want to help, but please trust me on this."

Matt and Sora stood in deep thought. Tai could sense the conflicting emotions within them; as much as they wanted to help, they understood his intentions of why he wanted to go alone. Finally, after several tense moments, Sora spoke.

"All right," she nodded hesitantly. "We'll back you on this one, but I sure hope you know what you're doing. Remember the last time we fought Myotismon? He almost killed you. What would we do if he does kill you this time?"

Tai flashed her his famous goofy grin.

"Like I'm going to let Ole Fang Face kill me this time," he snickered arrogantly. "I've gotten smarter since the last time we met."

"That's up for debate," Izzy muttered with a roll of his eyes, which earned snickers from the others and a glare from Tai.

"Once I finish the deed, we'll find a way to return to the Digital World tomorrow," the Destined Jedi leader continued. "We have to go back and take care of whatever's going on there before it gets worse. Who's with me?"

Everyone roared in agreement, which brought a smile to Tai's face. Everything was working out smoothly. Soon, Myotismon would be destroyed before he could find Kari.

"Just please be careful," Sora said, giving him a look that suggested it was an order rather than a request.

"Always," Tai replied, giving her a wink and a thumb's up.

* * *

That night, Tai waited until the light in the living room was turned off to signal his parents had gone to bed. Just to be sure, he waited quietly a few minutes longer before it seemed like the coast was clear.

He swiftly moved into action; quietly removing the comforter from his body before changing back into his normal clothes. Quietly navigating his room so as not to disturb a sleeping Kari, he hooked his lightsaber onto his waist.

Nudging the bedroom door open with a slight squeak, he tiptoed towards the genkan to grab his shoes before returning to his room. The entire apartment was quiet. Not a single sound could be heard except for Tai's sock-covered feet sliding against the hardwood floors.

He quietly shut the door behind him as he reached the safety of his bedroom. The plan that he and the two Digimon had made zoomed through his mind at a million miles a minute.

First, they were going to rendezvous at Odaiba Beach, then Wizardmon and Gatomon would take him to Myotismon's hideout. Hopefully, the vampire was finished feeding for the night and would be there. When they finally found him, it was all adrenaline and skill to try and finish his reign of terror.

With all of this in mind, Tai glided across the floor until he reached the sliding glass doors.

"Tai," a tired voice called to him, followed by a yawn.

Tai froze before slowly turning to see Kari looking at him, dressed in her pink pajamas as she rubbed her eyes.

"You're going off to fight Myotismon, aren't you?"

Clutching his lightsaber tightly in his gloved hand, Tai nodded slowly.

"Yeah," he whispered, taking two steps over to her. "Soon, this will all be over, and we won't have to worry about him again. I promise."

Brother and sister gazed into each other's eyes for what felt like forever until Kari wrapped her arms around his waist, followed by light sniffles.

"Please be careful," she said, her eyes pleading to him to return.

"I'll be okay," he assured her, ruffling her hair before planting a kiss on the top of her head. "I'll be back in a little bit. For now, go back to sleep."

Kari didn't say anything else as she watched him slide the door open, allowing a light draft of cool wind to blow through the bedroom for a moment before shutting it behind him.

Tai's gaze lingered on the handle, his fingers still clinging to it for dear life. What if he didn't come back? What would happen to Kari then? As much as he didn't want to think about it, he knew that it was a real possibility. He could still feel the burn from Myotismon's blade sinking into his shoulder during their first encounter. There was no telling what the vampire would do this time.

Despite these thoughts, he steered himself to let go of the door handle and go over to the balcony. He called up as much Force energy as he could before jumping down to the ground below.

With the skill and grace of a ninja, Tai repelled his way down, falling from one balcony to another a few floors down to slow his momentum down. After ten more seconds, his feet finally touched the ground safely. He didn't waste any time breaking into a running stride as he navigated his way across the street to the shore.

The stars shined brightly like diamonds and the moon bathed the land below in clear light. Tai could see it reflecting off the waters of Tokyo Bay as he finally reached Odaiba Beach.

"Wizardmon, Gatomon," he called, barely above a whisper. "Are you here?"

Behind him, bushes rustled until a wizard and cat emerged from them.

"Glad to see you've made it," Wizardmon smiled under his cloak. "Now let's go. We don't have much time to complete our mission. We must move quickly."

"Right." Tai nodded as the company walked away from the beach towards Daiba Park on the far end of the street.

As they got closer and closer to the fort-sized park in the middle of the bay, Tai could sense a dark presence looming over it, sending a chill down his spine. There was no doubt that this was where Myotismon and his army were hiding.

Before the group entered, Wizardmon stopped Tai with a gesture of his hand.

"What is it?" the boy asked.

"Wait here until Gatomon and I give you a sign," the wizard explained. "Myotismon has several guards patrolling the area. We'll take care of them, but stay hidden until then."

"Okay."

Just as Tai hid underneath a patch of shrubs, a group of Bakemon came floating over to their position.

"What are you doing here?" one asked. "Lord Myotismon is out feasting. He won't be back for hours."

"That's okay," said Wizardmon. He waved his hand as he continued, "We'll take over your guard duties."

His mind trick worked as the Bakemon simply nodded their heads.

"Okay. Have a nice night," they said as they floated away.

"Don't forget to leave us the key."

One of them tossed Wizardmon the key mindlessly before the Bakemon disappeared from sight. He stuffed the key into his pocket before turning to the shrubs behind them.

"It's okay now, Tai. You can come out."

Tai let out a shaky breath as he emerged from the shrubs, the prickly leaves poking his skin painfully.

"Let's go," the boy said with a determined glare. "It's time to end this."

The two Digimon nodded.

Due to how wide the grassy area of Daiba Park was, it took them a little time to find the entrance to Myotismon's lair. Upon entering, they observed how dark and dimly lit it was, even from above. The group slowly descended down the staircase, hearing their footsteps echo off the stone walls until they reached the bottom.

Tai's heart raced with nervous tension as the entrance above them closed shut, plunging them into total darkness. After a few seconds of nothing but blackness, a white light emerged with the activation of a lightsaber.

Turning to his right, he saw Wizardmon was the one that had activated the sword, which prompted him to do the same a second later, giving light to the dark chamber. Dimly lit torches lined the hall that seemed to go on forever into even more darkness far beyond.

"Where is he?" Tai whispered, quietly enough not to alert any other Digimon that may be in the hideout to their presence. Wizardmon was in complete concentration with his eyes closed and his hand out as he tried to sense Myotismon's presence.

After a few more seconds, his eyes opened.

"Down this way," he replied. "Let's hope that he has gone to sleep by now."

"He'll pay for what he has done to me," Gatomon hissed, her voice lacing with venom in every syllable.

"You'll get your revenge," Tai assured her. "Be patient."

The three of them quietly wandered through the many corridors of the underground lair, afraid that someone would spot them and sound the alarm. They would lose the element of surprise and be forced to retreat. It was a gamble they had to take.

Finally, after a left turn, a gate met them dead in the face. Wizardmon fumbled through his pocket for the key he obtained from the Bakemon before pulling it out and turning it to unlock the gate. It opened with a low creak, the suddenness and sound of it making them cringe for a second.

Nothing happened after a few short seconds, which allowed the three of them to breathe easily before entering. A large coffin sat in the dead center of the room, looming over them like the reaper of death itself. The coffin lid was lifted open just a tad to reveal a body laying in it.

"He must be sleeping," Gatomon mouthed quietly, so low that her two companions could hardly hear them. "Now's our chance."

Tai and Wizardmon centered themselves with the Force before unleashing their attack. Loud yells of determination echoed off the walls before the two plunged their lightsabers into the figure lying in the coffin.

"We got him!" Tai joyously cried.

A loud cackle reverberated off the stone walls as they peeked into the coffin to get a look at their kill. Tai and Wizardmon suddenly felt the sensation of being lifted off the ground.

From the shadows, the smirking face of Myotismon emerged.

"You fools thought you could sneak in and destroy me," he chuckled. "How amusing."

"How…" Tai was speechless. "How did you-?"

"Do you honestly think that I would leave myself open to an attack?" Myotismon said as he inched closer to the two. "I had to deal with two of your annoying friends last evening, and now I find you here. What great luck to have the leader of the Destined Jedi here in my domain."

"Let them go!" screamed Gatomon as she leapt toward the vampire, looking to scratch his face off.

Myotismon calibrated the attack well and used the Force to push Gatomon against the wall, holding her there. Despite her precarious position, the cat glared with defiance.

"Those eyes," he muttered. "From the moment I saw them, I knew that one day you would betray me. That's why I had to teach you by punishing you. I would have hurt you more, but you became a loyal servant to me, Gatomon. This time I won't be so easy on you or your pathetic friends."

"We'll see about that," Tai countered as he broke the Force hold long enough to unleash a Force push of his own, sending Myotismon into the wall with a resounding crash.

The vampire didn't seem to be affected much as he rebounded quickly.

"So that's how you want to play it," he chuckled before unleashing his red lightsaber. "Well then, let's play."

Tai and Wizardmon charged as their sabers struck Myotismon's. Despite having to face two lightsabers at once, the vampire was no slouch in lightsaber combat and it showed as he deflected attack after attack.

As the three engaged in a saber lock, Myotismon saw that the two were focused on his saber hand, leaving his other hand free. He unleashed a burst of lightning from his hand towards Tai and Wizardmon.

Their pained screams echoed through the lair as the lightning shocked and burned them. Myotismon lifted them into the air once again, not lessening the lightning even a little. He halted the attack before sending them through the ceiling, allowing moonlight to stream into the dark chamber.

With Gatomon still pinned to the wall, the vampire drifted up to the surface with her in tow. Tai and Wizardmon slowly stumbled to their feet, shaking from the intensity of the Force lightning.

"That barely tickled," Tai chuckled defiantly. "Are you sure that is the best you've got?"

Myotismon smirked at the boy's refusal to back down. It was no wonder that this child was the Jedi of Courage, but courage was for the incredibly stupid. If he couldn't find the eighth Destined Jedi, then he'd have to settle on their leader.

"Be careful what you wish for," he hissed as he reactivated his lightsaber. "You just might get it."

Tai was about to charge when Wizardmon stopped him before he could move an inch.

"Let me take this one," he said, giving Tai a nod that he was well enough to handle it.

"If you can handle it," the boy returned the nod, despite every instinct telling him to jump into the fight as well.

Wizardmon unleashed his white lightsaber before unleashing a flurry of Ataru attacks on Myotismon. The wizard moved with incredible grace and speed that Tai found it hard to keep up. His head spun from how fast he moved.

Myotismon missed a strike, and Wizardmon took advantage of it by slashing him across the shoulder. The vampire hissed in pain, his anger rising as he stared daggers into the wizard.

"You have foiled me for the last time, Wizardmon. Now it's time that you paid for your insolence!" he roared as he began to choke the wizard with the Force, holding him in mid-air.

"Let him go!" Tai cried as he charged in, but was swiftly met with a Force push so powerful that it sent him skidding along the ground.

"Stay out of this!" Myotismon hissed before turning back to Wizardmon, who was slowly beginning to run out of air. "Here's a parting gift for you, Wizardmon. Enjoy a little swim!"

Before Tai and Gatomon could do anything, Wizardmon was chucked like a football towards Tokyo Bay. All the two could hear were his screams until they were silenced by a splash.

Tears filled Gatomon's eyes as she watched aghast at what Myotismon had done. If she didn't want to destroy him before, this was all she needed to know that he had to be eradicated from this earth.

"You'll pay for what you've done," she growled, her hackles standing on end.

"There are those eyes again, only this time they are filled with determination…and is that a glimmer of hope I see?"

"That's right. I believe in myself once again. The only way I will ever rediscover who I am is by destroying you."

"What do you mean?" Myotismon began to probe her thoughts for what she could possibly mean. His eyes widened as it hit him like a ton of bricks. "Do you mean to say that you are the guardian of the eighth Destined Jedi?"

"What's it to you?" Gatomon's eyes narrowed as she glared at her tormentor.

"This changes everything. Now I don't have to search for the eighth child when I can just probe your memories to discover their identity."

Using the Force, he brought Gatomon towards him before clutching the scruff of her neck. The cat thrashed and twisted to try and get him to let go, but his grip was like steel.

"You let her go!" Tai cried as he activated his lightsaber, prepared to fight to the death to save Gatomon.

"It's over, Destined Jedi," Myotismon smirked at the boy. "Soon I will know who this mysterious eighth child is and kill him before you all know what hit you."

Tai couldn't control himself anymore and put on an extra burst of speed to reach the vampire. He was in such a rage that he couldn't control the words that came out of his mouth.

"You will not lay a finger on her!" he roared as their sabers clashed.

"Her?"

' _Shoot!'_ Tai mentally kicked himself. _'Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!'_

Myotismon snickered before continuing, "Thank you for being so helpful to me this evening. Now I know what to look for. It's time to say goodnight."

He broke their lock and slashed Tai on his right calf. The boy went down, rolling on the ground in agony while clutching his leg as the vampire flew off with a bone-chilling cackle.

"Tai, help me!" Gatomon cried, her eyes pleading in desperation.

"Don't worry! We'll help you!" he assured her through gritted teeth.

* * *

Tai nudged the door open slightly as he limped into the dark apartment. His shirt was wrapped tightly around his right calf to keep pressure on the slash Myotismon gave him. It still hurt so bad that he could hardly put any weight on his leg.

' _Where's Sora with her healing powers when I need her?'_ he thought as his teeth grinded against each other. He moved to the freezer to gather some ice in a bag, then wrapped it around his leg with packaging tape he found in a drawer.

It wasn't until he reached his and Kari's bedroom that he collapsed to the floor, exhausted and bruised up from his battle with Myotismon.

"Tai, are you okay?" Kari asked, reaching his side in a second. "What happened? Did you destroy Myotismon?"

Tai shook his head. "I'm sorry, Kari," he whispered, sounding like a frog was in his throat. "He got away. He got Gatomon too, and now he'll be coming after you any time. There was nothing I could do."

With a sad sigh, Kari assisted him up before helping him move to the bottom bunk of their bed. Tai grimaced as he shifted his legs onto the bed. Kari pulled the comforter over her brother to make him as comfortable as possible.

"Do you think Gatomon's okay?" she asked.

Tai could tell she needed some reassurance at the moment, and was more than happy to give it to her.

"Sure she is," he smiled, ruffling her hair as she climbed up the ladder to the top bunk. "Tomorrow, we'll go find her. Are you scared?"

"Not really," Kari replied as she pulled her blanket over her.

"Good girl. Everything will be okay. The others and I will protect you no matter what."

* * *

At the Fuji TV station, Hiroaki Ishida poured himself his fourth cup of coffee. He was used to working the late shift, but it didn't make him any less tired when he did. The cigarette between his lips was removed before he took a sip, feeling like a shot of adrenaline was injected into him as the liquid touched his lips.

Mr. Ishida was a middle-aged man of thirty-five. Despite his age, his looks could pass off as forty-five with his droopy eyes and tired face. His clothes were messy and unkempt, a light stubble dotted his jawline. His light brown hair still kept a lush look to it, but it was starting to thin out from stress.

Ever since his divorce, he immersed himself in his work to fill the void left there by Nancy's departure. Sometimes it was at the expense of spending time with his son, Matt.

He glanced longingly down at the picture he had in his wallet of his family a few years ago when they took a camping trip to the mountains. Those were good times, he thought. If only things could have turned out differently.

One of his younger co-workers came careening into the break room. A young man in his mid-twenties with big, round glasses and a red bandana covering his hair bent over in exhaustion. It looked like he had run the whole way from the office.

"Hiroaki, you're awake!" he gasped.

"What's going on, Charlie?" Mr. Ishida asked, putting his wallet back in his pocket.

"The whole system's gone down: transmitters, satellite feeds, everything. We can't figure out what's wrong because communications are down too. It's like the end of the world here!"

Mr. Ishida wasted no time in acting as he bolted up from the table, grabbing the young man by his arm and made a beeline for the news room. A vast majority of the other workers had gone home for the night, but two others remained: a young female intern in her early twenties, and a man in his early forties with headphones on. He was listening to a motivational tape on his Sony boom box.

"Tell me what happened," ordered Mr. Ishida as he logged on to a computer. It took two seconds for him to realize that nothing was working. He pounded the desktop in frustration, followed by a muttering of "shit."

"It all started when the fog came in," the bandana-wearing man replied. "We started getting interference with our signal and it hasn't stopped since. Everything cut off just a couple minutes ago."

"My cell phone's not working either," said the female intern.

"Where are you going?" she asked as Mr. Ishida put his coat on and started to walk out.

"To earn my pay," he said, whipping back to flash her a grin. "To investigate this thing. That's what I do after all."

"We're right behind you," said Charlie as the two of them followed him.

The man with the headphones took them off just in time to see the group walk out of the station. Not wanting to be left alone, he decided to come along too.

The four of them took Mr. Ishida's van to go around the district to get the full scope of what was going on. Everywhere they turned, there was fog. It was blocking out every view across Tokyo Bay to the city itself. Even views of the Rainbow Bridge were obstructed as the fog seemed to get thicker and thicker by the minute. It was almost as if someone took the entire district of Odaiba and put it into a giant fog-filled bubble, cut off from the rest of the world.

After an hour, they stopped along a canal near an apartment complex. The world around them seemed a little darker than normal due to the fog. Mr. Ishida turned on the car light to gaze at a map of the area.

"Okay, here's what we know," he said, circling the entire district with red marker. "The fog is disrupting the entire area, and there doesn't look like a way to get out. We're completely cut off from the rest of the city."

"Why isn't any other part of town seeing fog?" Charlie asked. "This just isn't natural."

"Maybe it isn't," the intern suggested. "It's like this fog is being controlled by magic or something."

"Stop trying to scare me," the other member of their group groaned as he sat up in the driver's seat.

Loud, thundering footsteps caused the ground to shake. The vibrations from the ground caused the car to shake as well. Whatever it was was coming straight towards them.

"Keep quiet," said Mr. Ishida as he turned off the light, not wanting whatever was coming to know they were there, before taking cover on the floor of the van.

With a loud roar, a giant, black Tyrannosaurus Rex-like creature emerged from the fog. It gazed at its surroundings for a moment before stepping forward. It didn't notice the people in the vehicle struggling to control their terror.

The man at the wheel was about to unleash a scream until Charlie wrapped his hand around his mouth. That didn't stop the man from unleashing a muffled scream as the scene from _Jurassic Park_ flashed in their minds for a second.

Soon, the monster disappeared from sight, much to their relief.

"You both saw it?" the intern asked, to which they both nodded. "Good. At least I know I'm not the only one going crazy."

The crew jumped out of the car to look in the direction that the creature had gone.

"Somehow this fog is in connection to these monsters we keep seeing," said Mr. Ishida, seeing everything start to make sense. Ever since that fog rolled in, phone calls came in left and right with people saying that they had seen monsters. "But how?"

A scream from the young woman startled the three men as they turned to see a pack of amphibian creatures with orange fur charging towards them. Their eyes flashed with the intent to kill.

"Everyone, get in the car!" Mr. Ishida ordered as the creatures began to attack.

Two of them charged towards his male companions until he kicked them away. The creatures jumped all over the car, trying to find some way to get in and reek havoc on the passengers inside. Mr. Ishida pushed several off, scratches and marks covering his face and clothes, before jumping into the driver's seat.

"Step on it!" Charlie cried as he started the car and pushed the pedal to the metal as they drove off.

* * *

 **Will Tai and the others save Gatomon before Myotismon finds Kari? Is Wizardmon okay? Find out on the next episode of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **And that concludes the search for the eighth Destined Jedi arc. Now is when the fun truly begins ;-) I have been waiting to start writing these upcoming chapters so much that I just can't stand it. Hope you all are excited too.**

 **Be sure, as always, to leave a review and subscribe because you will not want to miss what is coming. Have a good weekend, everyone, and I'll see you all next week.**


	31. The Petals of Sincerity

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Oh you bet it is.**

 **Music Chick: Thank you. It really wasn't that hard: just apply the basics of one universe and apply it to the other. We'll see what happens going forward with what's coming up soon.**

 **I also want to** **thank genbo and rockstarwm for following the story. Y'all will not be disappointed with what's coming.**

* * *

 **Well, everyone, here we are. This is where the fun begins. Enjoy!**

* * *

The first rays of sunshine kissed the top of the buildings to signal a new day in Tokyo. While it seemed like a normal morning, it wasn't. In Sangenjaya, TK and his mother were already up and moving in the small two-bedroom apartment they shared since Nancy got divorced. The small boy was eating a bowl of cereal as his eyes stared transfixed on the television screen.

The morning news showed only the sight of an impenetrable fog, followed by an army of news helicopters circling around it like vultures waiting for whatever animal was on the ground to die so they could feast. The fog was so thick that not a single soul below could be seen. Cars coming into Odaiba from the Rainbow Bridge would go into the fog never to be seen coming from the other side. While the fog had started the day before, it had gotten worse almost overnight. It was almost something out of a horror movie.

Even though he wasn't as perceptive to the presence of Force energy as the older kids were, TK didn't need to be to know that something was not right. He needed to be there to combat whatever was going on there. This had something to do with Myotismon, TK could just feel it. Not only that, but Matt and his father could also be in danger.

While certainly happy-go-lucky in nature, he wasn't unaware about how awkward it was for his parents when they were in a place together. That wasn't going to stop him from doing what he knew was right.

"I'm coming, Matt," he said aloud, dropping his spoon down into the bowl of cereal he had been eating.

"TK?" his mother asked.

"We have to go to Odaiba, Mom. The others are in trouble, and they'll need me there."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a long story, but we have to go."

Nancy shook her head, refusing to concede to her young son's wish. She had to go to work soon and didn't want to take the day off just for something that probably was nothing to worry about.

"You don't understand, Mom!" TK pleaded. "Matt and Dad are there too. We can't leave them."

The image of her son and ex-husband flashed through Nancy's mind for a brief moment, but it was all she needed to rethink her refusal. While she and her ex-husband were not on speaking terms much these days, he was the one taking care of Matt and what affected him was going to affect them both. If anything happened to Matt, she would never be able to forgive herself.

With a small, barely noticeable nod of her head, she conceded to TK's wish.

"Ok, we'll go," she said. "Get your coat."

TK smiled happily, excited about finally getting some action after sitting yesterday out when the other kids met up again. He had to find out what they talked about.

* * *

The clucking of a chicken echoed through the dark, peaceful room at the stroke of six a.m. For a second, Sora thought it was the rooster crowing at Gennai's house until she remembered that she was at home. She quickly turned off the alarm next to her.

' _I need to get rid of that alarm clock now,'_ she yawned as she rolled around on the futon to bring kinetic energy to muscles that lay dormant for eight hours. The soccer team again had practice that morning, so she got up to get ready to go.

During the night, Sora found it difficult to fall asleep for almost two hours after she settled into her futon. She didn't know whether Tai had successfully destroyed Myotismon or not, which worried her considerably. What if something had happened to him? She also thought about when she would finally address the elephant in the room with her mother. It needed to happen before the eight of them went back to the Digital World so that she could focus on their mission with a clear conscience.

Sora went through her usual morning routine with the precision and mindlessness of a robot doing what it was designed to do without thinking. Her auburn hair was going in all directions like she touched a ball of static energy. Normally, she didn't mind because her hat usually covered it, but she wanted to at least make it presentable so she brushed it until it settled down.

Her soccer gear sat against her closet as she changed into her regular clothes. She saved hooking her lightsaber to her belt for last after she put her hat on. Hopefully Tai would be at practice and she could ask him if he had completed his mission. It would be one less thing they had to worry about.

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Sora made her way into the main hallway to say goodbye to her mother. The familiar sound of Kyu Sakamoto music sat softly on the air as she neared the kitchen. Her mother was washing dishes. She didn't acknowledge Sora's presence when she snuck her head in.

"See ya, Mom. I'm going to soccer," she called as she neared the front door. Her mother didn't answer as she continued her business silently.

"Mom?" she repeated, but to no avail. Not even an "ok" escaped her mother's lips. Something didn't seem right. "Well, I'll see you later I guess."

Mrs. Takenouchi barely heard the door close over the sound of the water running and the record playing nearby. She was too lost in her thoughts to notice that her daughter had left.

* * *

Tai heard only the tone of the phone line as he tried to call the other Destined Jedi to tell them he had failed in his mission. All across the Odaiba district, phone services went out like someone had cut all the phone lines in the district to isolate it from the rest of the world. The slash on his leg still throbbed with a dull pain, but it was at a point where it was manageable. A white bandage adorned the area. He had told his mother that he suffered a cut at soccer practice after someone clipped him while making a dive.

Mrs. Kamiya was cleaning up the kitchen after serving Tai and Kari breakfast. Their father had left for the subway station that morning to go to work, but the trains also were out of service.

"Your poor father," she said. "I hope he's not stuck on the subway."

On the other side of the room, a film featuring men with pale white faces and green caps and uniforms played on the screen. It was like a propaganda film from the 1940's or 50's with how it showed them doing their duties for their mission. The television had cut out as well the previous night with the film showing up on every single television across the district. Tai and Kari were getting tired of looking at it.

"We're not watching that video again," Tai complained, wanting desperately to change the channel to something else. "Are you sure that we can't just change it to something else?"

"The TV's still out, sweetie," his mother replied. "I wish I had a better answer for you. For now, we'll just make do with it."

The boy rolled his eyes as he slammed the phone down on the receiver, realizing that he was wasting his time trying with it. He plopped himself on the couch, feeling miserable as he tried to ignore the film in front of him. How was he going to contact the others about what to do next? Myotismon could be sending his forces out to find Kari and there was no way they could stop it.

"What do I do?" he muttered.

 _Ding! Dong!_

Everyone in the apartment turned towards the door as the bell sounded. They weren't expecting someone to come by this early in the morning. Tai looked at the clock: it read five minutes past 6. Who could it be?

"I wonder who would be dropping by unannounced," Mrs. Kamiya wondered, also puzzled by the unexpected visitor, but nonetheless moved to the door to answer it. "Coming."

Tai turned back to his thoughts to tune out the inevitable conversation until a scream from his mother jolted him and Kari. Mrs. Kamiya was pushed to the ground by one of the figures from the film on the television. The figure then disappeared to reveal a horde of Bakemon as they floated directly for the children.

Tai wasted no time in jumping into action, activating his lightsaber in a flash before taking the three ghosts down with blinding speed. Kari had sought refuge behind the couch until the Bakemon had been vanquished.

"How did they find us so soon?" he gasped as he recovered from the shock of their sudden appearance. Did Myotismon find out that Kari was the eighth Destined Jedi and sent them to get her?

"Tai! Kari!" their mother screamed as more of the ghost Digimon pulled at her until she disappeared from sight.

"Hold on, Mom!" Tai cried as he took Kari by the hand and led her out of the apartment. More Bakemon swarmed them as they moved down the hall, but Tai cut them all down without too much trouble.

The elevator wasn't working, so the two of them took the stairs down to reach the bottom floor. What they saw next shocked them. The Bakemon were herding almost the entire building around like cattle. It was an organized assembly line of people that stretched miles long, like the entire district was being moved to a specific location.

"Mom!" Tai cried as he spotted his mother amongst the crowd.

He pushed through the hoard of people, holding Kari's hand in order to not be separated from her, until a sharp pain exploded up his side. He fell to the ground, gritting his teeth as he held his damaged side. A deep scratch inched up his side like a snake, bleeding profusely through his torn shirt.

"Tai!" Kari cried as she bent down to her brother's side, wondering what could have done this to him.

"I don't think so, my young friend," a ghoulish voice chuckled.

Kari turned to see a phantom-like creature with a giant scythe in its hand floating in mid-air. It wore a red hooded cloak over its grey tunic. An eyeball sat in the middle of its chest as part of a necklace it wore around its neck.

"Get the girl!" the creature ordered the Bakemon.

Kari closed her eyes in fear as the ghosts descended upon her. A lightsaber activating caught her ear, followed by the cries of the Bakemon. She dared to open her eyes to see Matt taking down the creatures that came towards her. His green lightsaber was a blur as he cut them down one at a time.

"Don't you dare touch her!" the blonde growled as he eyed the phantom.

"You Destined Jedi are so insufferable," it said with annoyance before turning to the other Bakemon nearby. "Get them all to the convention center. Now."

Immediately, the crowd started moving as Mrs. Kamiya tried to fight through to reach her children, impeding her progress until she got swallowed into the wave of people. Matt carried Tai fireman-style as he urged Kari to get away from the crowd.

"Mommy!" she cried.

"It's okay, Kari," Matt said as he led her away. "We'll get her later, but now we have to get out of here."

* * *

Mrs. Takenouchi was not sure what was happening. One minute, she was washing dishes, and the next a group of ghost-like creatures crashed through her front door. That was strange enough, but nothing compared to what happened next.

As the ghosts began to close in on her, she grabbed one of the carving knives to defend herself. Out of nowhere, a bright light appeared in the room like an angel descending from the heavens. A twister of green flames then shot out from the light, sending the ghosts flying out the door.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked as the light began to fade, revealing a bird with pink feathers that were tipped with blue all over its body.

Mrs. Takenouchi's eyes widened, being so shocked that she couldn't form a single word in reply and almost dropped the knife in her hand. It was almost as if her throat had gone dry. Maybe she was getting delirious. She didn't know what else to do other than nod slowly.

"No, you're not imagining things," the bird said, as if it had read her thoughts. "My name is Biyomon and I am the guardian of the Destined Jedi of Love. My feelings told me that Sora was in danger. Where is she?"

Words continued to fail Mrs. Takenouchi as she stood almost in a catatonic state. Finally, she managed to squeak out a couple of words.

"T-t-the soccer field," she replied, sounding like she had swallowed sand.

"Then that is where we start looking," Biyomon nodded before flying out the door.

Mrs. Takenouchi stayed glued to her spot in the kitchen. How did this bird know Sora? How could it talk? There were so many questions that she needed to have answered. It was almost too unbelievable what was happening.

"Come on! There's not much time!" the bird cried impatiently.

Mrs. Takenouchi nodded before slipping her shoes on in the genkan and following Biyomon out the door. She couldn't bear the thought that Sora could be in trouble, especially with those ghosts flying around the area. Who knew what they would do to her if they got their hands on her.

"What were those things that you saved me from?" she asked, deciding to break the ice with the bird.

"Those are called Bakemon," Biyomon replied. "Nasty fellas when you run into them. One alone is usually harmless, but they're dangerous in packs. The other Guardian Digimon and I are doing all we can to help with what's been happening."

It took them only a few minutes to make their way through the deserted, fog-filled streets until they finally arrived at Odaiba Elementary School. At the soccer field, balls were scattered around the length of the AstroTurf but there were no children in sight. In fact, the field was completely deserted.

Duffel bags were tossed across the entire field, with some possessions spilling out of them. Mrs. Takenouchi started getting scared at the many possible scenarios that occurred just now.

"Over here!" Biyomon cried, snapping the woman out of her trance.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she glanced at what the bird had found: the familiar sky blue color of Sora's hat. Biyomon plopped it into her hands as she gazed longingly at it. Mrs. Takenouchi felt like a big part of her just died inside of her, knowing that her daughter was kidnapped with the others.

"Where have they taken her?" she demanded. "Surely, you must know something!"

Biyomon shook her head sadly. "Sadly no, but no need to panic. The Force will guide us to where she is."

"The what?" Mrs. Takenouchi's face became confused once more.

"I'll explain, but for now we need to find Sora."

* * *

Sora was still trying to wrap her head around what was happening as she sat in the lobby of the Tokyo Big Sight, surrounded by practically the entire district of Odaiba. Due to the early hour, people were still trying to wake up and understand what was going on. As far as she knew, she was the only child around the lobby because her teammates were taken to another section of the convention center.

She had just arrived at the soccer field and was about to get dressed into her practice uniform when Bakemon came out of nowhere and began sweeping players and coaches alike away. She sprang into action to try and stop them, cutting down a few of the Bakemon along the way, but they eventually overwhelmed her and took her with them.

And here she sat, helpless and unable to do anything about her situation. Hopefully her mother had escaped her fate.

"Sora!"

Sora felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around her. When she turned to see Mimi was the one hugging her, she didn't know whether to be glad to see her or dismayed that she was there too.

"They got you too, Mimi?" she replied, trying to give a smile to show she was happy to see her.

"Yeah, they did," Mimi nodded sadly. She was still wearing her pink pajamas. The Bakemon came for her and her family while she was still sleeping. "It was the scariest thing. They came without warning and I was so scared, I couldn't do anything about it. What do we do, Sora? We have to get out of here."

"Calm down," Sora patted her on the shoulder to try and calm the girl down. "We'll figure something out. A solution will present itself to us. Trust in the Force, Mimi."

Mimi gave an understanding nod, even though she wanted assurance that Sora had a plan to get them out. For now, the auburn-haired girl wandered around the area to see if any of the other Destined Jedi had been captured too.

"I can't stand it! I can't stand not knowing!"

"Calm down, dear."

She turned to see Mr. Kamiya trying to comfort a distraught Mrs. Kamiya. Tai and Kari weren't with them, which meant that they must have escaped capture. She moved towards them.

"How can I calm down?" Mrs. Kamiya wailed. "For all we know, those monsters have captured the children by now."

"It'll be okay, Mrs. Kamiya. We'll find a way out of this," said Sora as the couple finally noticed her. "We just need to be patient and trust in the Force."

The Kamiyas looked at her as if she had gone crazy. The Force? Wasn't that just in movies? Sora could sense their confusion so she explained to them all that had happened to them since summer camp. It took a bit of patience on her part, especially when they started asking different variations of the same question, but she was able to tell them everything.

"So what do we do now?" Mrs. Kamiya asked as Mimi and her parents joined them, as well as some other people who overheard Sora's story.

"We have to create a diversion somehow. I'll stay behind to help take care of the Bakemon with a few others for as long as possible. Mimi, you lead everyone else out and find Tai and the others. We'll need them for extra back-up."

Mimi grimaced. She didn't want this enormous responsibility placed on her shoulders. What if she failed? She couldn't bear the thought of someone getting hurt because of her.

"Why me?" she whined.

Sora grabbed her shoulder roughly. "Because you are the only other one here who can do it," she whispered harshly. "Trust in the Force, Mimi. Trust in yourself. I believe in you. You can do it."

"But-"

"No buts."

Mimi's face twisted in indecision for a few seconds before finally nodding in affirmation. As much as she didn't want to do it, she had no other choice in the matter.

"Good girl," Sora finally eased her grip on the other girl's shoulder and patted it. She turned to address the others.

"Okay, so here is what we're going to do. A few of us will draw the Bakemon's attention away while the others make a break for it. Mimi will be leading that group out and I'll stay behind with the others. Are we clear?"

Mr. Kamiya nodded and stood up, his face narrowed like a soldier about to go to war.

"What are we waiting for?" he said, his tone matching his demeanor. "Let's get them."

"Wait for my signal," Sora placated him. She gestured to the far side of the room with her eyes as she turned to Mimi.

Mimi got the message and followed the older girl behind a pillar where the Bakemon were not paying attention. The two of them centered themselves with the Force, taking several deep breaths as they prepared themselves for what they were about to do. The two took their lightsabers into their hands, fingers twitching over the activation mechanism as Sora prepared to give the signal to begin.

Mr. Kamiya, along with several others, waited in anxious anticipation for Sora to give them the signal to start their assault. Finally, Sora swept two fingers towards the ghost Digimon. The time had now come.

"Take some of this!" Mr. Kamiya cried as he grabbed a nearby fallen pipe and swung it at the Bakemon. All mayhem broke loose as his group started going after the closest ones to them.

The diversion worked as Mimi and Sora emerged from behind the pillar with their lightsabers activated. Sora broke off to assist Mr. Kamiya's group, cutting down Bakemon whenever they would descend upon her, while Mimi led the group of civilians out of the Big Sight.

It looked as though it would be an easy walk out with only a few stray Bakemon trying to stop them, but Mimi would use the Force to get them out of their path. They finally emerged from the building, the sunlight greeting them as the group began to scatter in all directions.

A roar nearby halted their progress. Several screams rang out as a black Tyrannosaurus Rex creature stomped towards the group with echoing steps. Mimi swallowed the fear that threatened to overwhelm her as she jumped into action to take the creature down.

She dodged as it sent a giant, clawed foot her way, trying to kick her away like a discarded can on the ground. Using the Force to pick up a nearby boulder, she flung it to hit the dinosaur right on the muzzle. It reared its head back with a roar of pain.

' _I think I'm starting to get the hang of this,'_ Mimi thought confidently.

"Hold on, Mimi!" her father yelled. "Daddy's coming to help you!"

He jumped onto a cart and sped towards her, but not until the dinosaur's giant foot kicked the cart onto its side. The cart and Mr. Tachikawa skidded across the grass until coming to a rest near the big model saw.

"Dad!" Mimi cried as she rushed to his aid, taking her attention off the Digimon for a second.

"Are you ok?" she asked once she reached him.

Mr. Tachikawa nodded, giving his daughter a soft smile.

"Guess I made a fool of myself, eh Mimi?" he chuckled.

She shook her head. "No you didn't. That was brave of you."

"Go hide for cover, princess. I'll take care of this."

Just as he said that, the dinosaur turned directly towards them. A group of Bakemon also appeared, chasing the crowd of people back into the Big Sight.

Mimi could only stand frozen as a statue while all of this was going on around her. Never had she felt so helpless before. Between the Bakemon, Myotismon, and the black dinosaur in front of her, there was no way that she could do this alone.

' _Why was I chosen for this job?'_ she thought as tears began to build up in her eyes. _'It's because of me that Myotismon will rule the world. There has to be something I can do to help! My friends and family are counting on me.'_

" _Believe in yourself, Mimi."_

The girl's eyes widened in recognition.

' _Palmon?'_

" _Believe in yourself, Mimi,"_ Palmon repeated. _"Don't sell yourself so short. You're one of the strongest people that I know. You can do it. You just have to believe."_

' _But what if I mess up?'_ Mimi replied as a stray tear began to trickle down her face. Her head flooded with the same doubt she had experienced in the forest, almost causing her to cease up and shut down. _'What if-'_

" _Don't think that! Just act! I believe in you."_

On Mimi's arm, the symbol of Sincerity began to glow a stronger green that it had before. The girl felt power stronger than any she had ever felt before swelling up within her, ready to burst free.

The tear fell off her face and made contact with the pavement below.

"I believe," she said shakily, but then nodded her head more confidently. "I believe!"

Mimi then raised her hand, the symbol on her arm glowing with blinding light. Nearby, a puddle of water began to shake and churn until it finally flew up from the ground like it decided to go into the atmosphere in its present state rather than as a gas.

The water made contact with the dinosaur's eyes, causing it to howl in pain as its eyes stung. Mimi used the Force to call more water near her as she moved towards the beast. A giant wave loomed behind her as she sent it to knock it off its feet.

Her body trembled with exhilaration. She had won this battle all by herself.

* * *

"There's nowhere left for you to run, Destined Jedi," Phantomon snickered as he and a few other Bakemon cornered Sora over the balcony of the Big Sight. "Your time is up."

Even though she was in a less than ideal situation, Sora did not back down from the phantom Digimon's leer. She was exhausted from battling so many of the ghost Digimon, her strength beginning to fail.

"We'll see about that," she growled as she raised her lightsaber, ready for the attack she knew would be coming.

"That we shall," the phantom retorted before ordering a Bakemon near him, "Seize her."

"Stay back!" Sora swung her lightsaber out defensively to keep it away. Realizing that it would only be a temporary solution, much like putting a band aid over a cut, she used the Force to push it back.

"Ow!" it groaned painfully.

The voice sounded familiar to Sora, catching her off guard for a few seconds as another group of Bakemon closed in on her to take their place. They too were met with a Force push as Sora regained her composure.

The auburn-haired Jedi then approached the large Bakemon. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it was merely a sheet with the face drawn on it. Hesitantly, she lifted it up and was stumped for words at who she saw underneath.

"Mom?"

Mrs. Takenouchi recovered from being stunned at the sound of her daughter's voice. Immediately, she wrapped Sora in a warm hug. It was so unlike from what Sora knew before because she thought of her mother as a cold robot in a way. She didn't feel that way anymore as she returned the embrace.

"Mom, I'm so sorry," she croaked, not just apologizing for the Force push.

"There's no time for that, sweetheart," Mrs. Takenouchi replied as she let her go, giving her hat back. "You have to get out of here."

"But what about you? I can handle myself just fine, but I don't want you to get hurt."

Sora sensed Phantomon and the Bakemon starting to return. It seemed that her mother did too because she urged her away.

"Get moving! It'll be okay!"

A Bakemon made a beeline for Mrs. Takenouchi from behind.

"Mom, look out!" Sora cried as she used the Force to push it away. She then slashed at two others that went for her.

"Go now!" Mrs. Takenouchi ordered, getting more and more impatient as the two of them warded off as many Bakemon as they could.

"Not without you!" Sora retaliated.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn like your father? Go! You matter more than I do!"

Sora felt like her insides were being torn apart by wild horses. She didn't want to leave her mother to suffer at the hands of Myotismon and his henchmen, but she knew that she and the other Jedi needed to regroup so that they could fight together. All of this decision-making was making her head hurt.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she turned and jumped off the ledge, landing safely at the bottom.

"I'll come back for you, Mom!" she cried as she ran away. "I promise!"

* * *

 **What will happen next as tensions boil over? Where are the other Destined Jedi? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Man, I was so excited to write this chapter that I would write in large chunks at a time. I have been waiting for months to get started on these upcoming chapters. I used the assault on Theed from Phantom Menace as the template for when Sora and Mimi lead the assault on the Bakemon because it fit perfectly. Hope you all are as eager for what's coming next as I am.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe because you will not want to miss what is coming up next. See you guys next time.**


	32. City Under Siege

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: You bet it is!**

 **Music Chick: Yes it has. We'll see what else happens moving forward ;-)**

* * *

 **Welcome, everyone, to yet another chapter. We just keep trucking along, don't we? Anyway, now that the invasion of Odaiba has begun, what will the Destined Jedi do to stop it? Find out. RIP Stan Lee. You are the reason that most of us do what we do every day. Forever a Marvel.**

 **On with the show!**

* * *

"I won," Mimi gasped.

Before she could officially celebrate her victory over the black Tyrannosaurus Digimon, a flash of navy appeared in front of her. She quivered when the navy blue cloak opened to reveal the figure behind it.

Myotismon sneered at the female Jedi in front of him. Fear radiated off of her so much that he could almost smell it.

"We'll see about that," he said as his red lightsaber made its presence known. He turned to the Digimon on the ground. "Back to the Digital World with you."

In a flash of black, the dinosaur disappeared, leaving just the two of them. Despite her fear, Mimi raised her saber pointed outward.

They stared each other down for several moments until Myotismon charged. Mimi squeaked as a slash came from her right, raising her saber to block it. The two went back and forth with Myotismon launching every single strong attack he knew and Mimi somehow finding a way to ward it off.

During a saber lock, Mimi was distracted by a cry of her name. She turned away for a brief second to see Sora running towards her. Myotismon was quick to use the distraction against her, kicking her in the shin.

As Mimi reeled back in pain, Myotismon used the Force to push her back, sending her skidding along the ground before coming to a dead stop a few feet away. She groaned painfully as she sat up, her pajamas covered in dirt and grass stains.

"Mimi!" Sora cried as she reached the younger girl, checking her over to make sure she was all right. "Are you ok?"

Mimi nodded. "I'm fine."

"We have to get out of here. Let's find where Tai and Matt went and then come back with reinforcements. We can't win this alone."

"Going somewhere?" Myotismon cackled, lifting the two Jedi into the air with a raise of his hand. "Why prolong the inevitable and just die right now?"

Sora's eyes narrowed as she glared at the evil vampire before them. Rejuvenated by the thaw in relations with her mother, she wasn't going to let anything stop her now. Not even the grotesque personification of evil in front of her.

"Where's the fun in dying now?" she sneered. "It's much easier when you know you're ready. Now, Mimi!"

The other female Jedi nodded and the two combined power to unleash a Force wave so powerful that it broke Myotismon's hold on them. Not wasting any time to wait for him to get up, they sprinted away from the convention center.

"When you all come back," Myotismon hissed as he watched the two girls get further and further away. "I'll be here waiting. And I will not be so merciful when I slaughter you all, along with the eighth child."

* * *

Tai groaned in pain continuously as Kari wrapped the bandages around his diaphragm to cover his injured side. She and Matt had been able to stop the blood flow long enough to put several gauze strips on the slash before wrapping it in bandages.

Mr. Ishida, scratched head to toe like he was in a fight with a raccoon or squirrel, woke Matt up early that morning. The boy asked what happened, but the man didn't answer, instead he asked his son to get up and dress. Matt did as instructed and the two left the apartment with nary a word.

Once they reached the construction site of the new Aqua City that was set to open in a couple years, Mr. Ishida told Matt exactly what happened: The fog had cut off the entire district and he and his crew were attacked by monsters. He then told him to stay out of sight before heading back to the station for a way to communicate with the outside world.

But Matt couldn't just sit around and do nothing while everything was devolving into chaos before his eyes. So, sensing that Tai and Kari were in trouble, he left the site to go to their apartment building.

"Poor Tai," said Kari with the tone of a nurse attending to her patient. "You're always getting hurt, aren't you?"

"I guess you can say that," her brother chuckled with a small grin before turning to the blonde-haired boy standing two feet away from them. "Thanks for getting us out of there, Matt. You really saved us."

"That makes how many times I've saved your skin now?" Matt smirked.

"That was only the first time. The battles with Devimon don't count."

"Yeah, sure."

"All done."

The two boys turned their attention to Kari as she finished tying the ends of the bandages together.

"Feel any better?" she asked.

"A lot better," Tai nodded, flashing his famous grin for his sister. "Thanks, Kari. Now that that's taken care of, what are we gonna do? We don't know where Myotismon's taking everyone."

"Your guess is as good as mine, dude," Matt replied curtly. "But we're helpless without any of the others here to assist us."

"Damn it all," the brown-haired boy muttered harshly while kicking a loose can down the way. "That creep won't rest until he finds Kari. We can't let that happen."

The three sat in complete silence for what felt like hours as the two boys tried to figure out a plan. Who knew if the others were also trapped wherever Myotismon was holding everyone. What if they were the only Destined Jedi that managed to evade capture? That meant everyone's lives would be in their hands.

' _Thank God TK is back with Mom right now,'_ Matt thought. _'If there was ever a good time for us to be apart, now is the best time.'_

"I'm sorry."

Kari's voice came out little more than a whimper, but it was loud enough for her brother and Matt to hear.

"What do you mean, Kari?" Tai asked, kneeling down to Kari's level and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"If I hadn't been the eighth child, then none of this would be happening," the girl elaborated. "It's my fault."

"Now don't go spouting nonsense, Kari," her brother ruffled her hair to try and comfort her. "Remember what Sora said yesterday? Destiny happens when you least expect it. It's gonna be okay. We'll get Mom and Dad back in no time, even Gatomon."

This brought a small smile to the girl's face as her eyes met Tai's. She nodded confidently, which in turn brought a smile to Tai's face.

"All right, let's get out of here," he said, looking over at Matt. "We've got to find out where Myotismon is holding everyone and form a plan to get them out."

"Right," the blonde nodded as the three left the construction site.

* * *

Across the harbor, Joe was still reeling from what could have possibly been the worst night of his life. First, his test went horribly; he ended up with a C+, which he had never gotten before. His father was not going to be happy when he found out. He shrugged it off as stress from the attacks to try and make himself feel better about it.

After that, the Yurikamome line going into Odaiba was shut down again. Not even the pay phones were working when he tried to call home to explain what was happening. Since he was too young to check himself into a capsule hotel, or even a regular one, he slept at Shimbashi Station for the night along with several other people. Needless to say, it was something Joe hoped he would never have to do again.

That morning, he tried to head down to the Hinode ferry station to catch a boat into Odaiba, but even they weren't running. Joe just about wanted to jump into Tokyo Bay and drown when he heard that. It was like the fates were conspiring against him to make sure he never got home. He decided to take his chance and wait for one to become available.

Also within the ferry building, TK and his mother were waiting to catch a ferry into town. Since they couldn't take the Yurikamome line, they knew they had to find another way in so they too decided to take the ferry.

The crowd was starting to get restless as they waited for an update on the ferries. Many were salary men and women who were wanting to get back home after a night away while others were just like TK and Nancy in being worried for loved ones that were in Odaiba. They wouldn't accept anything less than getting into Odaiba today.

Nancy started getting nervous from the feel of the crowd. It felt like a riot was about to break out any second as a worker stepped up onto a platform with a megaphone.

"Due to fog conditions, all ferries into the district will not be running until further notice," he said. The crowd audibly groaned and started shouting in protest as he continued nervously. "Please bear with us. We're doing everything we can, but we must wait for the fog to lift."

No one seemed to be listening as a surge broke through the crowd, separating TK and his mother from each other as they tried to keep from being knocked off their feet. People continued to try and storm onto the dock, but were held back by security.

Joe was getting tossed around like he was in a mosh pit at a punk rock concert. Finally, after a tense struggle trying to push through the surging crowd, he managed to escape and ran out of the building.

"I thought I was going to be a goner there for a second," he sighed deeply, adrenaline surging through his body from fright.

"Joe!"

The blue-haired Destined Jedi turned to see TK looking up at him. His face relaxed as he greeted the young boy.

"Hey ya, TK," he smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"Mom and I were trying to get in, but I'm surprised that you're here too," said TK in reply.

"I was across the harbor when the power went out. Looks like we're the only ones out here while everyone else is there. Who knows what Myotismon's planning in that blanket of fog."

"I don't have a good feeling about this," TK nervously said, a chill running down his spine as he thought of what could be happening.

"Enough talk," Joe's face morphed into one of determination. "It's time for action. We have to find a way into the district."

"But how?"

A sly grin slid up the blue-haired boy's face. He in fact did have an idea of what to do. This was something he had always wanted to try.

"I've got an idea," he finally said, getting excited just thinking about it. "Let's go down to the pier and get a boat. I've always wanted to do this."

"What are we gonna do?"

"You'll find out soon."

Joe took the boy's hand and the two headed away from the ferry station towards the collection of boats down in the harbor. It felt like they were super spies on a secret mission; in a way, they were. No one noticed the two boys walking away, nor did they notice them eyeing the boats with intent.

They got onto the first boat they saw. It was a speedboat, but neither of them cared what kind of boat they got. They just needed one to be functional enough to get them to Odaiba in plenty of time. Joe headed to the driver's seat and began his inspection underneath the steering wheel.

"What are you doing?" TK asked as he observed quietly, interested in what the older boy's plan was.

"I'm gonna hot wire this boat so we can go to Odaiba," Joe replied as he pulled out a Swiss army knife from his pack. "I've read a lot of books about it and always wanted to try it out myself."

"Do you even know how to drive a boat, Joe?"

Joe's face fell. It seemed in all the excitement of wanting to hot wire a boat, he forgot that he wasn't old enough to drive one.

"No," he chuckled nervously. "Do you?"

"You're asking me? I'm only eight years old for crying out loud!"

"How hard can it be?" Joe said with a shrug.

Taking his attention away from the wires, he saw that they had the steering wheel, gas and brake pedals, and throttle. It shouldn't be that difficult. He heard plenty of stories about kids hotwiring boats and taking them off for a joy ride. If they could do it, why not him?

"Look, just stand watch for me, will ya? Let me get started."

TK puffed his cheeks out with a huff, not happy about being delegated to standing watch. As he moved to the other side of the boat to stand guard, a flash of metal reflected a ray of sunshine onto his face. He turned to see what it was.

A pair of keys lay on the dashboard like a gift from the gods.

"Hey! Here are the keys!" TK exclaimed, plucking them off.

Joe hit his head on the steering wheel as he started to emerge from his prone position. There went his hotwiring plan.

"Aw man! I wanted to hotwire this baby so much!" he whined. "Oh well."

"Sorry about your plan, Joe," TK smiled sympathetically.

"Easy come, easy go, my young friend. Who would leave their keys in plain sight like this though? It's not safe."

"Maybe someone knew we would need them."

Joe snorted in amusement. It was highly unlikely that someone would do that, but he was willing to try anything at this juncture. All that mattered was getting into the district so they could provide help to the other Destined Jedi.

"All right. We'll try it your way," he smiled as he put the keys into the ignition and turned them. The engine roared to life, sounding like a tiger's growl.

TK unhooked the mooring line before sitting down beside Joe. The two of them felt like they were in the American television show _Miami Vice_ for a second, especially Joe as he felt the steering wheel vibrate from the engine.

"You ready?" he asked as his hand moved to the throttle.

TK nodded. "Ready."

"Let's go!"

The crowd of people that had been stuck inside the ferry building took notice of the two boys piloting the boat away from the harbor. Mrs. Takaishi was one of them.

"TK!" she cried, putting on her best scolding tone of voice.

The boy's blood ran cold when he heard his mother's voice. The two stopped for a second to turn back and look.

"Get off of that! Where are you even going?"

"It's okay, Mom," he replied, giving her a wave. "Joe here will take good care of me."

"I'll make sure he's safe, ma'am," Joe called back, also giving Mrs. Takaishi a wave. "You can count on me. I'm not the Jedi of Reliability for nothing after all."

That statement confused Nancy. What was the older boy sitting in the boat with her son talking about? "The what? I don't understand."

"See ya later, Mom!" TK cried as he and Joe began to speed out further and further away from the shore. "I'll have Matt and Dad home by dinner!"

Nancy watched as the speedboat began to blend in with the fog in complete helplessness. Not only were her oldest son and ex-husband in there, but now her baby was heading there too.

"I've lost all of them now," she whimpered.

* * *

The clacking of fingers typing on a keyboard echoed like thunder as Izzy went to town on his computer. Time was running out for the boy, and he needed to figure something out. He could sense the Bakemon were getting closer and closer to his family's apartment, no doubt coming to take them prisoner too. He couldn't let that happen.

"You must hurry, Izzy," Gennai's voice echoed in his mind, almost as if the old man were standing right next to him. "In order for this to work, you need to move faster."

"I'm doing the best that I can," Izzy snapped back as he watched the blue bar on the screen move slowly towards the right to load up the program he had initiated. "I told my dad that I needed a quicker modem, but he still hasn't come through for me."

The bar on the screen inched along with the speed of a snail.

"Come on! Be good to Daddy!" he growled through gritted teeth, bouncing impatiently as the seconds ticked away.

His parents barged into his bedroom. Mrs. Izumi was armed with a pan while her husband carried one of his golf clubs, prepared to defend themselves for when the Bakemon finally barged into their home.

"Izzy, let's go!" his mother said urgently. "We have to get out of here. Those things will be at our door any minute."

"No!" was the boy's response. "Believe it or not, we'll actually be safe here."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll find out in a moment. Just give me a second."

Mrs. Izumi, however, refused to budge. She was by his chair in a second.

"No, you are coming _now!"_ she replied stubbornly, using as much strength as necessary to pull him out of his chair.

"Let me go, Mom!" Izzy cried, gripping the edge of his desk with a vice.

Their tug of war lasted for several seconds with Mrs. Izumi pulling one way and Izzy holding onto his desk and trying to get her off of him. All the while, Izzy failed to notice the symbol on his arm start to glow.

"Mom, you don't understand!"

"No, _you_ don't understand. Now, would you please leave that computer and come on?"

As Izzy stretched his hand out to push her off, he accidentally unleashed Force waves from his palm. Mrs. Izumi went flying backwards until she hit the floor with a small thud. It didn't do any damage, but the shocked look on her face was enough to twist Izzy's insides in guilt.

For a second, no one said a word. Even Mr. Izumi was beyond words at what he had seen. The tension was so palpable that Izzy could probably cut it with his lightsaber blade.

"Izzy…" his mother breathed, tears beginning to dot her eyes. "What…?"

"Mom, I'm sorry," he whimpered before turning back to the computer. The bar had finally finished loading. The dark presence was right on their doorstep. He had to act quickly.

"Digital barrier should be on…NOW!" he said with a click of the return button. A bright flash of light surged through the room, causing everyone in it to shield their eyes.

A crash echoed through the entrance hall as two Bakemon, along with Phantomon, invaded the apartment. One went down the hall while the other turned into the open bedroom. Mrs. Izumi let out a small scream as she hid behind her husband, waiting for it to snatch all three of them up.

But the ghost Digimon did not attack. It just stared blankly into space as the two adults in the room shook with fear.

"That's funny," it muttered, its eyes wide with confusion. "I could have sworn that I…"

Mr. Izumi shook like a leaf as the ghost was right upon him. He could smell its' overpowering breath, the white rag-ish arms barely tickled his skin. All it could do was stare.

"There's no one here," said Phantomon. "Let's get moving."

The three ghouls left the apartment without another word. Mr. and Mrs. Izumi let out long exhales as they fell to the ground.

"All right!" Izzy exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air. "Gennai, the barrier worked like a charm."

"Doesn't surprise me at all," the old man replied, almost as if he was actually present in the room. "Good work, Izzy."

Izzy jumped back in his chair as he turned towards the source of the voice. Gennai actually was here. He was outlined in blue light, giving him a transparent glow. Mr. and Mrs. Izumi were too busy trying to recover from their encounter with the Bakemon to notice.

"Now let's get down to business. The fog barrier is not a natural phenomenon; it's Myotismon's doing."

"Duh!" the boy rolled his eyes. "Like I needed to be told that to figure it out. What do I need to do to get rid of it?"

"Locate the source of the fog and disable it," Gennai continued. The old man lifted his hand and with it came a picture of the Fuji TV station. "This is where the fog originated."

"The TV station? What about the others, won't they need me?"

"They're taking care of things on their end, but you'll join them soon enough. Good luck, and may the Force be with you. You're going to need it."

Izzy bowed as Gennai disappeared from his room. The time for messing around was over. He had his mission and he needed to get it done. The whole district, city, and even the world was counting on them.

He turned to his parents after gathering his laptop and lightsaber.

"You guys should stay here in case they come back," he instructed. "The digital barrier will protect you if they do. I'll be back in a little while. See ya."

Before he could step out the door, his mother stopped him.

"Wait!" she cried. "You've grown so much, Izzy, and you've proven you can take care of yourself but you'll always be my little boy. Please, son. Be careful."

Izzy found it hard to control the tears that were threatening to spill down his face. Even after all he had done over the last two days, they still loved him more than anything in the world. He could feel the love radiating through them. It gave him even more will to succeed.

"I will," he croaked as he tried to keep his emotions under control. "I promise."

That was the last thing he said before exiting the room.

* * *

Down by the bayside mall, in the Center Promenade, a Bakemon lounged on a bench to take a break. All day he had been rounding people up so that Master Myotismon could find the eighth Destined Jedi, and he was tired. The life of being an evil Digimon was not an easy one.

Tai, Matt, and Kari were surprised when they reached the promenade to see a stray Bakemon resting. The girl hid behind her brother as they took positions behind a tree just a short few steps from the ghost.

"Do you think it knows where the others are being held?" Tai whispered to Matt.

"Only one way to find out," the blonde replied.

"Kari, stay put."

The girl nodded in compliance with her brother's orders.

After a silent count of three, the two boys jumped out from behind the tree and ambushed the Bakemon. It was so surprised at their appearance that it didn't react quickly enough before the two punched and manhandled it.

"All right, start talking!" Tai demanded as he landed a shot to its face.

"Where are you keeping everyone?" Matt echoed as the two ceased their assault. He had put his foot down on the ghost's midsection, cutting off its breath. "Tell us!"

The only sounds the Bakemon made were choking sounds as it struggled to breathe.

"Tell us now!" Tai ordered as he slugged it across the face once again.

Before it looked like it was going to answer them, a cry near the bridge called out to them.

"Matt! Tai!"

The two boys turned to see Sora and Mimi running across the bridge towards them. This distraction allowed the Bakemon to escape while it had the chance. Kari emerged from behind the tree.

"Sora! Mimi!" Tai cried, ecstatic to see that the two female Destined Jedi were okay as they reached them. "So you guys are all right?"

Sora nodded, bending over slightly to catch her breath after running all the way over from the Big Sight. Mimi was too.

"Yeah, we're fine, but everyone else is held up at the convention center. Practically the entire district is there," she explained. "He's even got your parents too."

"My parents are also being held there," said Mimi. "Myotismon came after I tried to get everyone out. I held him off for as long as I could, but he was too powerful."

Tai frowned in deep thought. Now things had gotten personal for him. It disgusted him how low Myotismon was willing to go so he could find the eighth Destined Jedi. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"Then that is where we must go," he finally said. "We're the only ones who can do something about this, whether we want to or not. I haven't heard anything from Joe or Izzy, so they may not be able to help us, and TK's in the city."

"Thank goodness," Matt quipped. "I don't want him caught up in the middle of this."

"But what do we do?" Sora replied. "We need a plan. We can't just go barging in there; we're too outnumbered."

"We'll figure that out later," Tai explained. "Right now, let's go to the convention center."

Everyone nodded as the group of five kids made their way across the bridge towards the Big Sight. Little did they know, someone was watching them from atop a car on the Daikanransha ferris wheel.

Phantomon chuckled wickedly to himself, having heard the entire conversation. This was going to be too easy.

"The plot thickens."

* * *

 **Yes it does, Phantomon. Will the five of them stop Myotismon and free everyone? Will Joe and TK arrive in time to provide reinforcements? And just how did the keys get into the boat? Did someone leave them there on purpose? All things that you will find out on the next episode of "The Destined Jedi".**

 **Hope you all enjoyed that chapter, everyone. I've got one week until Thanksgiving break, which means I get time to just concentrate on writing! Yay! Anyway, hope you all have a great holiday and eat until your stomach bursts! I command you!**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe. I've got a bit of a challenge for you all, something I don't usually do but I want to try: let's try to get to 80 reviews until I update the next chapter. If you all can do that, I'll have a special surprise for you next week. Call it an early Christmas present ;-) You'll find out what it is if you do it.**

 **See you guys next week and have a great weekend!**


	33. Reliable Friends

**Reviews:**

 **Guest: Your review made my day. Thank you so much. I do hope you will continue to review in the future.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yes it does XD I always imagined Joe having that kind of a side of him so it was easy to write that. Wonder who the boat belongs to though *thinking face***

 **Music Chick: Yes they are. Stay tuned for what is next ;-)**

* * *

 **Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday if you live in the U.S. For everyone else, welcome to yet another chapter. Things are starting to get more and more interesting. Didn't hit the 80 reviews that I asked for so that was a bit of a let down. We can try for this week, and it doesn't have to just be on the new chapter. It can be on others. Guess I should give you incentive at the end author's note.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Izzy was struck by how quiet it was as a cool wind blew down the deserted street. Not a single soul was out and about in the usually bustling Odaiba district. Even during a weekday when many people were heading to work, the district was full of people going here, there, and everywhere.

The boy moved quickly and silently through the streets like the fog surrounding him as he navigated his way to the TV station, which was not too far from his family's apartment. The fog was as thick as pea soup; as cliché as that sounded to the boy, it was true. He could hardly see 800 feet in front of him, which would have been terrifying if the district were more lively, but in these circumstances it wasn't.

A chill radiated through him. Something sinister was nearby. Izzy turned to be met with the sight of the humungous building that was Fuji TV station. From a distance, it looked like a docked space shuttle with its futuristic design and circular observatory sitting atop the building.

He could feel the presence of a few people still inside the building, but he could also sense that many Bakemon were also inside. He would have to continue to be like smoke and move through the building without drawing any attention. The fate of the district and the other Destined Jedi depended on the moves he made here.

Izzy closed his eyes and concentrated inward to center himself in the Force. His mind began to clear and the nervousness that had begun to build up in his stomach vanished. He was ready.

He pushed softly on a door that was marked with a sign that said "Employees Only" and made his way inside the building.

The lobby was just as deserted as the outside. There was a stillness in the air that gave it the feeling of being abandoned, but Izzy knew that was not the case. Music from the radio echoed across the empty room. The Bakemon were nowhere to be seen in the lobby, which meant they must be patrolling the upper levels.

He glanced towards the elevators for a brief second, considering taking one up, but realized that it would draw too much attention. Luckily for him, a door with a "Stairs" sign in kanji was close by. He didn't hesitate and barged through the door to begin his ascent up the stairs.

* * *

Tai, Matt, Sora, Mimi, and Kari hid against a column as two Bakemon floated nearby. The five of them had finally arrived back at the Big Sight, but Tai still did not have a plan of attack for them.

Sora and Mimi filled them in on what they knew: Myotismon was holding most of the district there in hopes of weeding out the eighth Jedi. He separated the children from their parents, except the two of them for some reason. What he wanted the adults for, they had no idea, but it could not be good. Something in the Force told Tai he would not like the answer to that question.

The chestnut-haired boy slapped a hand against Kari's mouth before she could let out a scream as the Bakemon hovered near the column they were hiding behind. Seconds felt like hours as the children stayed as quiet as they could. They did not want to alert the ghosts to their presence because it would soon reach Myotismon.

Kari gave muffled whimpers as tears began to streak down her face. Her brother could sense her fear rising so he gave her a quick squeeze on the shoulder for reassurance. The girl settled down instantly. The ghosts then harmlessly passed by the column and disappeared.

The kids sighed in relief as they swiftly moved like shadows behind the other columns until they finally reached the automatic sliding doors of the big convention center.

Tai knelt down until he was eye-to-eye with his sister.

"When we get inside, you find a safe place to hide and stay there," he instructed in a serious voice. "I mean it, Kari."

"Okay," she nodded.

"Stay there."

He turned to the others.

"Okay, so here's the plan," he began. "We'll take some reconnaissance of the situation before we make a plan of attack. We can't alert any of the Bakemon to our presence, and especially not Myotismon. Stay far enough away that no one can sense your presence."

"The hell with that!" Matt argued. "Let's just go in and free everyone. I'm tired of all this sneaking around."

"And just what are we going to do if we get caught?" Tai retorted, getting into the blonde's face. "If we do, Myotismon will mangle us and Kari especially."

"Guys, calm down," said Sora, getting in-between the two of them. "How about this: Mimi and I will scope out the situation with the adults while the two of you find the group of kids that were taken. That way we can cover more ground and it makes it easier for us to evade detection."

"I like that plan. I like that plan a lot," Mimi agreed with a nod of her head.

"Okay, then that is what we will do," Tai replied, giving Sora a nod as well. "May the Force be with the two of you."

"And also with you," Sora reciprocated as they entered the belly of the convention center.

Things seemed peaceful enough as they walked in. The only thing that stuck out was how deserted the entry hall was: no Bakemon or human occupied the area. For a moment, Tai thought this was a prank that Sora and Mimi had set up to get him. Once he felt the familiar chill of dark energy radiate through him, he knew this wasn't a joke.

Before they could splinter off into their two groups, the flapping of wings could be heard in the room up ahead. The four older kids took their lightsabers into their hands, ready to defend themselves if necessary, while Kari held her brother's arm tightly.

The five Destined Jedi pinned themselves against the wall and slowly began to shuffle along it, not wanting whatever was up ahead to know they were coming. Their hearts beat loudly against their ribcages, sounding like tom-tom drums in the quiet corridor.

The tight hallway soon gave way to a large space filled with kids of all sorts: tall, short, younger, older; they were all there under one roof. Several were crying while others were just frightened out of their minds. A horde of Bakemon patrolled the area, along with a familiar face at the far end of the room.

"Why hasn't the eighth child been found yet, Gatomon?" DemiDevimon demanded. "Master Myotismon is growing impatient."

"Because none of these kids are the eighth Destined Jedi," the cat snapped, her patience with the diminutive bat growing rather thin.

"That doesn't matter to Master Myotismon. He wants that child found now so he can destroy them. I've already put all the larger humans to sleep for later."

The group almost gasped loudly at that revelation. Thankfully they stifled them in their throats as they slipped through the hallway. As Gatomon and DemiDevimon continued to argue, Tai began to think of a new plan.

"Okay, change of plan," he whispered. "We need to free Gatomon and those kids."

"I'll deal with that. You guys just leave it to me," Matt replied as he broke away and into the large space, staying out of sight as he navigated his way through the shadows.

"I hope he knows what he's doing," Sora breathed as they heard DemiDevimon sneer at Gatomon.

"Not so fun when you're not the master's favorite little pet now is it?" he gloated. "Master Myotismon says that if you don't find the eighth child here, then he will simply destroy them all."

He then flew away with a cackle that echoed off the walls, which frightened the children even more. Gatomon felt powerless because there was nothing she could do to stop this. It was all out of her paws.

Matt swallowed the anger that bubbled in his throat as he hid behind a column, out of sight. This was Myotismon's plan the whole time? If he didn't find the eighth child, he would destroy them all? He couldn't let this happen. Myotismon was really grating on his nerves because of all the things he had done.

' _Hang on, kids,'_ he thought as he observed them all. _'I'll get you out of here.'_

Looking around the room, he saw that five to six Bakemon were standing guard. If he could create a distraction, he could use it to his advantage and destroy them. But what kind of distraction?

Tai and the others couldn't sit idly by and watch all of this go on for another minute. They felt useless staying behind and observing while Matt did all the hard work. Tai looked over at Sora, asking her if she was ready with his eyes. She nodded in return.

"Get ready, Mimi," she whispered as she grabbed her lightsaber, her finger hovering over the activation mechanism.

"What are we doing?" Mimi asked, confused as to what was going on.

"We're going in."

Tai turned to Kari.

"Kari, stay put. We'll be right back," he instructed as he stood up.

"I want to help too!" she protested.

"No! Leave this to us. Stay here."

Kari puffed out her cheeks, disappointed that she wasn't allowed to get in on the action herself as her brother and the two older girls leaned around the corner to get a read on the situation.

"One," Sora whispered, starting the countdown.

"Two," Mimi chimed in.

Tai inhaled and exhaled through his nose several times, his muscles ready to leap out and attack like a cheetah. He couldn't wait any longer.

"THREE!" he shouted as the three of them emerged, their lightsabers activated and ready to fight. The Bakemon instantly jumped into action by swarming them but with lightning fast strikes and precision, they fell one-by-one with each stroke.

Kari looked around the corner and watched in awe at the display. Her brother spun and flipped as he took down the evil Digimon.

"Wow!" she breathed.

Matt ran out from behind his pillar and took down two Bakemon in a flash. He turned his attention to the ones surrounding the children and Gatomon. His power surged through him, as if giving him an extra boost before they all quickly fell. Two tried to get away but they eventually ran into Tai and the girls.

He turned to the group of kids as they gazed at his saber in amazement.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" he ordered.

The kids did not need to be told twice as they sprinted out of the room, thankful to finally be free. A girl with spiky maroon hair made her way up to him.

"You're amazing!" she cried, her eyes wide with admiration. "And so cute too! Thanks for saving us!"

Matt felt like he was being choked to death as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Can't breathe!" he choked out. "Go on! Get out of here!"

She then ran to join the others as the group of children finally escaped the room.

* * *

The pungent smell of salt water almost made Joe throw up as he and TK sped across Tokyo Bay in the speedboat, getting closer and closer to where they knew Odaiba to be. As their journey progressed, the fog began to get thicker and thicker until they could hardly see anything in front of them.

Despite his head and stomach swimming like a fish, along with the nauseous feeling that threatened to overpower him, the bespectacled boy kept his focus as the Rainbow Bridge began to emerge from the fog.

"We're almost there!" TK cried happily, anxious to finally get a piece of the action he had been craving.

"Yep," Joe nodded as he steered towards the bridge. "Just a little bit longer and we'll finally break through the fog."

A low growling noise rumbled through the air as the boys approached the Rainbow Bridge. Joe sensed something nearby so he stopped the boat to determine what it was.

"Did you hear that?" he asked the younger boy.

"Yeah," TK nodded. "It sounded like my tummy when I'm hungry. Come to think of it, I am a little hungry."

"Stay on your guard. We have to be careful."

Joe eased his foot down onto the gas pedal just a touch so that they were still moving, but not blazing through the water. He listened for any other noises that could clue him in to what they had just heard.

Looking up onto the bridge, TK saw some of the suspension cables vibrating like strings on a guitar. A long metallic gold thing, like the rattler on a rattlesnake, moved across them and the cables started to swing. He followed it until it merged into red and blue scales with white underneath that were wrapped around the bridge like a python.

"Joe, what's that?" he asked, growing increasingly nervous as his eyes continued to trace across the body.

Joe looked up towards the bridge. Once he saw what TK was talking about, his face paled considerably.

"TK," he said slowly, not wanting to frighten the boy but also trying to keep himself calm. "I think we're in trouble."

"THUNDER JAVELIN!"

A sonic blue energy blast cut through the mist. Joe steered the boat hard to the right to avoid the attack as it went into the water, sending up a large wave of water that fell on top of the boys.

"What is that thing?" TK cried as they swerved to avoid more attacks.

"I don't know! Where's Izzy when you need him?" Joe shouted as a cracking sound filled the air, followed by the snapping of cables.

The creature that hung on the bridge tightened its body around it so much that a section of the bridge began to break away from the rest before falling into the bay. Joe swerved the boat around to avoid falling debris. The fog parted just enough to allow them a glance at what it really looked like.

It reminded the boys of the sea serpent that they encountered on their first night in the Digital World, but was much bigger and meaner. The top of its head was covered by what looked like a gold mask, culminating into a jagged horn with green hair flowing behind it. Its open mouth revealed rows of razor sharp teeth that looked like daggers.

Joe stopped the boat, realizing that they couldn't outrun the beast. He and TK activated their lightsabers as the serpent dove into the water below. The redness of the scales clashed against the murky water as it charged towards the boat.

"Here it comes," Joe said as he watched the long body get closer and closer. "Be ready."

TK nodded nervously, letting out shaky breaths. The blue-haired boy next to him noticed this.

"Don't worry. I'll protect you."

The boat jolted to the right, throwing the two boys to the side as they fell to the floor of the boat. The serpent emerged from the water, eyeing it like a shark that smelled blood before it attacked again. It slammed its tail onto the front of the boat, sending it up a foot in the air. Somehow, Joe kept his balance but TK was not so lucky.

"Joe, help!" the boy cried as he struggled in the water. Joe remembered that he said he couldn't swim well one time, so he jumped into action.

"Grab on!" he ordered, holding his hand out for TK to grab onto.

Before their fingers could grasp each other, the serpent fired another Thunder Javelin attack at them. The heat from it almost seared Joe's fingers as TK fell under the waves.

"No! TK!" Joe shifted his hand through the water. "TK!"

A sense of dread washed over him as he came up empty. Not only had he failed him as a friend, but Joe had promised TK's mother that he would be safe with him. It wasn't fair!

As tears began to sting against his eyelids, he dove into the water. He squinted his eyes just enough, despite the salt burning them, to see TK floating down amongst debris from the bridge. The boy looked unconscious. This only made Joe swim faster until his arms wrapped around the boy's torso and began pulling him back to the surface.

With TK tucked under one arm, Joe used his other one to knife his way up. His lungs burned with exertion as he swam until they finally surfaced before he ran out of air. He quickly lifted the boy back onto the boat before climbing in. TK coughed as he started to regain consciousness before Joe could administer CPR.

"Good boy. Good boy." Joe's face stretched into a relieved smile. "I thought I lost you there for a second, buddy."

"You saved me, Joe?"

"Like I said, I'm responsible for ya. I promised your mom I'd keep you safe."

"THUNDER JAVELIN!"

As yet another attack came careening towards them, Joe felt a great burst of power swell within him. His symbol began glowing much brighter than it ever had before, cutting through the fog with blinding white light.

The attack bounced back towards the sea serpent, almost as if it hit an invisible wall. Once it struck, the creature let out a roar of pain. Joe and TK were shocked at what had just happened. They couldn't believe it.

The moment didn't last very long as another Thunder Javelin was launched, but Joe stretched out his hand and a blue energy field surrounded the boat. The attack bounced away harmlessly once again.

"You want a piece of this?" Joe challenged with a growing sneer. "You want a piece of this, you big ugly snake?"

The serpent hissed threateningly as it exposed its teeth, ready to meet the challenge head on.

"I guess he wants a piece of this," TK chuckled nervously as its head snapped towards them, trying to snatch the two boys in its jaws, but they jumped away to avoid it.

Before it could retract its head, Joe slashed near its gills. The beast roared in pained anger as it went back for another round. This time, Joe was ready and drove his saber through the top of its head, piercing its skull. The serpent went slack as Joe withdrew his lightsaber from it before falling into the bay with a large splash.

Joe's eyes switched between his lightsaber and the sea, almost in disbelief that it was him that destroyed the creature. He let out a mix between a victorious cry and a disbelieving laugh.

"Who's bad now?" he shouted, echoing across the bay. "Tell me! Tell me! Who's the baddest man on the planet?!"

TK didn't want to interrupt Joe's celebration, but the light that his symbol had let out cut a hole in the fog that they could move through.

"Hey, Joe, let's get moving."

The boy ceased his celebration with a disappointed look. He had just killed an evil Digimon and wanted to relish in the moment for a little longer, but they had to keep moving.

"You've got it," he nodded before pushing down on the gas pedal. "Let's go!"

The fog parted like the Red Sea to allow them passage inside before closing around them once again. Joe relied on his memory of where he knew things to be in order to navigate his way, but it was very limited at this juncture.

"Man, I can't see anything in here," TK whined after a few minutes of wandering. "Are you sure we're going the right way, Joe?"

"I don't want to lie to you. I have no idea," his companion replied with a sigh. "We could be for all I know."

The boat moved a few more yards before the boys heard something else nearby. At first, they thought it was another sea creature coming by to ambush them, but it was a voice instead.

"Take me…to Kari," the voice cried, sounding like a frog was lodged in its throat.

Joe and TK patrolled all sides of the boat for the source of the voice, but found nothing. A few seconds later, a body pulled itself from the water up onto a floating log. The big wizard's hat on its head gave Joe an inkling of who it could be.

"Are you Wizardmon?" he asked as he turned the boat towards where the wizard floated.

He nodded. "Yes, I am, and you are two of the Destined Jedi."

"That's right," Joe replied with a friendly smile as he and TK pulled Wizardmon onto the boat. "I'm Joe, and this is TK. Why do you need to see Kari?"

"Who's Kari?" TK asked.

"She's in grave danger," Wizardmon said. "We must find her before Myotismon does. I sensed a disturbance in the Force; it won't be long until she is close to being found. We have to go now!"

"Can someone please tell me who this Kari is?!" TK demanded, upset at having his question be completely ignored.

"Kari is Tai's little sister," Joe explained, giving the boy an apologetic look as he did so. "You won't believe this, TK, but she's actually the eighth Destined Jedi that we've been searching for."

TK's eyes widened in shock at the news. "Gee, I'm always the last one to find out."

* * *

Tai felt his energy start to deteriorate as he cut through another Bakemon, the ghost Digimon disappearing into data particles instantaneously. He and the other three Destined Jedi of his team led the group of children through the hallways of the Big Sight, searching for the exit so that the children could run free. For some reason, he felt that getting them back had been almost too easy.

As the group rounded a corner, they were met with the sound of ghoulish laughter. Phantomon, along with an army of Bakemon, blocked off the exit. His scythe glared with light reflecting off of it, looking sharper than it had before. Tai and Matt stepped forward with their lightsabers raised as Mimi and Sora tried to settle down the crowd behind them.

"Going somewhere, my young friends?" Phantomon chuckled.

"Get out of our way if you know what's good for you," Tai ordered, pointing his lightsaber blade at the ghoul Digimon. "If you don't move, you will be destroyed."

The phantom simply laughed at Tai's attempt at intimidation.

"All right. You asked for it."

He and Matt charged forward while Mimi and Sora stayed behind to guard the children. Kari stayed hidden behind a wall not too far away, watching intently as her brother and his friends fought.

Matt and Tai cut through five Bakemon that surrounded them, thinking that this was going to be easy for a moment, until a familiar evil laugh echoed through the halls. Their blood ran cold as Myotismon appeared over them.

"So you were the ones causing all this racket," he said, his fangs becoming exposed as his lips curled into a smirk. "One thing you must understand about me is I do not like unexpected guests."

In a swift flash of light, Myotismon had activated his lightsaber and engaged the boys in combat. Despite their two-on-one advantage, Matt and Tai were beside themselves as they defended against the vampire's attacks.

The still-healing slash on Tai's side hampered his ability to move like he usually did, leaving him unable to execute high-flying maneuvers. This left Matt to pick up the slack for the two of them, which Myotismon would soon exploit.

A ball and chain wrapped tightly around Matt's neck in the middle of a saber lock before dragging him across the floor. Tai glanced over to see that Phantomon was the one holding it as he dangled the blonde-haired Destined Jedi a few feet above the ground, his face twisting in writhing agony.

"Surrender this fight, and your friend will be let go," the ghoul offered.

"Kill him, Tai!" Matt choked out, his face beginning to turn blue. "Don't worry about me! Get everyone out of here!"

"Matt!" Sora and Mimi cried as they rushed in to help.

"Don't interfere!" Myotismon hissed as he used the Force to send the two girls slamming into the wall. They fell to the ground dazed.

Tai broke the saber lock, attacking and defending wildly as he tried to create an opening where he could incapacitate the vampire and rescue Matt. His injured side, however, was proving to be a limitation in that mission.

With one swift swing from the side, Myotismon knocked Tai's lightsaber out of his hand, sending the blade skittering across the floor until it landed a few feet away. A burst of Force lightning then engulfed the boy as he was knocked against the wall.

"Now, I shall do what I should have done a long time ago," Myotismon hissed as Tai's screams of pain echoed through the entire hall. He raised his lightsaber as he moved closer to the boy. "And that is destroy you all. I'll start with you, Jedi of Courage."

Before the vampire could deliver the slash that would end Tai's life, a shout from nearby called out to him.

"STOP IT! NOW! THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Myotismon halted the lightning as he turned to see Kari standing in full view, tears trailing down her face.

"What is this?" he sneered.

"It's me you want," the girl said. "I'm the eighth Jedi. If you'll stop hurting my brother and his friends, I'll come quietly with you. Wherever you want."

Myotismon's lips curled into his familiar smirk. Finally, after all this time, he had found the eighth Destined Jedi.

"Very well," he replied, his red blade retracting. "Let him go, Phantomon."

"Yes, my lord," the ghoul nodded as he released Matt from the chain. The boy let out several hard gasps and coughs to bring badly-needed air to his lungs. He was a few seconds away from possibly asphyxiating if Kari hadn't intervened.

Myotismon then turned to the few remaining Bakemon that were left, instructing them to take the group of children back to the room they had just escaped. The ghosts did as ordered while the vampire used the Force to lift Kari into the air.

"We'll be going on a little field trip," he snickered as they flew out of the convention center.

Tai's eyelids flickered as he saw Myotismon take off with Kari.

"K-Kari!" he croaked out, reaching a shaking hand out towards them. "No!"

He then passed out.

* * *

 **Myotismon has captured Kari! OH, THE HUMANITY! Can they get her back before the evil Digimon destroys her? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Joe has finally discovered his greater power: creating energy fields for defense. I wanted to make the scene with MegaSeadramon more suspenseful than it was in the show, and I think I did a great job with that. Now the babies are the only ones left to discover their powers. What they will be, you'll have to wait to find out ;-) And see if you can guess who the girl was that thanked Matt.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe as always. Let's try to get to 80 reviews this time because next week, if we hit that, I will spill some details about the next story in this trilogy. Maybe even give you a teaser on a part ;-) You'll have to hit it in order to find out. See you guys next week. We are almost at 5.5k views. Thank you all so much for sticking by me all this time.**


	34. Kari The Vampire Slayer

**Reviews:**

 **Music Chick: Yup, TK wasn't there when Tai introduced Kari to everyone XD He'll meet her soon though. Stay tuned.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Phantomon just said that XD Yes, it was Jun XD How very observant of you. There is time and place for some things and that wasn't it for her.**

 **genbo: Thank you for the review. I hope to see you continue to review in the future. Everyone will have their chance to showcase their powers once again, I promise ;-)**

 **I also want to thank MrMarioluigi1000 for favoriting the story.**

* * *

 **Back with yet another chapter. Kari has just given herself up to Myotismon to save the others. Will they get her back? Find out now. We did it! We got to 80 reviews. Your reward will be at the end author's note ;-) You guys rock! Let's get to the story now.**

* * *

"Tai, wake up," Matt tried rousing his friend by grabbing his shirt and shaking him repeatedly.

Tai groaned slightly as he began to open his eyes, looking up at the blonde-haired boy's sapphire blue eyes.

"M-Matt?" he mumbled, his voice sounding like he had a frog shoved down his throat as he slowly sat up against the wall. His mind was still hazy after being knocked out for so long, but one thing immediately came to him. "Kari! Where's Kari?"

His head darted in all directions, hoping for a glance of the little girl to confirm that she was okay, but he couldn't find any trace of her. It then reoccurred to him what just happened. Myotismon had finally found her after she gave herself up to save him from being killed. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was them flying away.

"Myotismon got her," Matt replied, his eyes looking down in shame as he confirmed the bad news. "Last I saw, they were flying towards the TV station."

"I guess that means this is the end," Mimi sighed sadly. "We've failed. We had one job and we couldn't do it."

"Mimi, now's not the time for negativity," Sora said, pounding her fist to the ground before standing up from her seated position on the floor. "We can't afford it right now."

Tai looked out towards the TV station in the distance. He was lost in thought as guilt wrecked his system.

"It's my fault," he whispered, just loud enough for the other three Destined Jedi to hear him. "I should have just told her to stay at the construction site; she would have been safe there. If only I hadn't gotten her involved in this mess."

His friends heard light sniffles coming from their leader. The wave of dread crashed over them too because they were just as responsible in looking after Kari as Tai was. Sora stepped up to him and laid her hand on his shoulder.

"It's not your fault, Tai," she flashed him a comforting smile. "We'll get her back."

"How?" he wailed as tears began to fall down his cheeks. "Myotismon's probably killed her by now for all I know. It's too late."

Sora groaned, rolling her eyes in complete irritation at Tai's woe-is-me crying. She couldn't resist the urge as her hand slapped across his cheek.

"Look, Tai," she growled, gritting her teeth as her friend looked at her with bewildered eyes. "She's still alive. I felt it. You can either sit around and cry about it, or we can figure out a way to rescue Kari. What's it going to be?"

That slap seemed to be the wake up call that Tai needed. He wiped his tears away and put on a determined expression, one that everyone had come to expect from him.

"You're right, Sora," he nodded. "That creep has gone too far now. Let's go get Kari back, and this time we will kill Myotismon."

"But first, let's take care of that side of yours," Sora said as she pulled off her glove and raised his shirt up to take off the bandages. She fought the urge to grimace once she got a look at the damage that had been done. A long jagged scratch stretched up from Tai's ribs to his armpit.

Sora concentrated her power into her hand as she placed it on the mark. Her symbol glowed a bright red as she channeled the powerful energy she summoned towards the cut. Everyone watched as it slowly healed until it vanished like it was never even there.

Tai felt like a new man as he felt the familiar stinging of the cut fade away. He flashed Sora his famous grin in appreciation.

"Thanks, Sora."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Matt smirked as he and Mimi ran out of the building, followed by Tai and Sora. Dark clouds swirled overhead, almost as if to signal impending doom.

* * *

Izzy snuck his way down the hallway as he continued his search for any other people who may be trapped inside the TV station, not wanting any Bakemon to find him. So far, he did not have any luck in finding anyone as he navigated the second to fourth levels. Only one more remained.

Izzy pressed himself against the corner before looking around to get a peek. His eyes widened in horror as a Bakemon floated towards his position. He silently moved back down the other way until another one came up that way too. He was surrounded on all sides.

His hand reached down for his lightsaber, but before he could grasp it, a hand wrapped itself around his mouth and pulled him into the room behind him. Izzy let out a muffled yelp as the door closed, plunging him into total darkness.

"Shh. Keep quiet," a gruff male voice whispered to him.

Outside of the room, the Bakemon passed by without so much as a glance at the door that Izzy had been pulled into. It seemed that they didn't notice he was there, which was a relief to the boy. Now he needed to find out who it was that saved him.

"W-Who are you?" he asked, turning to greet the person holding onto him.

"Name's Ishida," the man smiled at him. "You probably know my son, Matt."

Izzy nodded slowly. As he finally took in his surroundings, he saw that the room was pitch black, unable to see much of anything to get a sense of what room he was in. The dim light of a computer screen was the only source of light in the whole room.

"Let's shed some light on the subject," Mr. Ishida said as he pulled back the curtains nearby, a stream of light bursting in as soon as the covers were removed from the windows. Izzy shielded his eyes for a brief moment before the brightness dulled down.

"What are you still doing here, sir?" he asked. "I thought those Bakemon had gotten everyone."

"So that's what those ghosts are called. They just came in out of nowhere and started grabbing everybody. I barricaded myself in here to try and find a way to contact the outside world, but the connection is shot."

Izzy set himself down in front of the computer that Mr. Ishida had been using to try and see if he could get something running. He didn't like to toot his own horn, but he probably knew more about computers than the majority of people in Japan did. After punching in a few commands for the computer, he began to figure out what the problem could be.

"I think I see what the problem is," he said. "The fog is not just the result of warm air and cold water battling together in the atmosphere, but it is functioning as a signal jammer."

"What does that mean?" the brown-haired man asked as he loomed over the boy.

"It means that the fog itself is what's causing these communication disruptions. There's some kind of supernatural, almost magical, force going through it that is messing with satellites and other forms of communication."

Mr. Ishida did not understand what the boy was talking about, but decided to give the computer yet another try.

"Here, let me try," he nudged Izzy aside so that he could sit down at the desktop again.

Suddenly a chill surged through the boy's body. Goosebumps multiplied rapidly on his arms as a dark energy began to make its presence felt to him. Something was wrong. Izzy moved to the window to see if it was potentially outside, but did not see anything. If it weren't under these circumstances, he would have appreciated the view he got of the entire Odaiba district.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see four figures running towards the station down below.

"Hey, it's everyone else!" he exclaimed, which caused Mr. Ishida to turn his attention away from the computer for a second.

The man looked out the window to see the four kids running towards the station. His eyes widened when he saw that Matt was one of them.

"Matt?" he gasped. "Would you mind telling me what's going on here, kid?"

"It's a long story, sir," Izzy replied. "I'm not even sure where to begin."

* * *

Matt was surprised to see his father standing outside with Izzy as he and his three companions arrived at the TV station.

' _Looks like he couldn't find a way to communicate with the outside world,'_ he thought.

"Matt, what are you doing here?" his father demanded as he ran up to him. "I thought I told you to stay out of sight."

"I'm sorry, Dad, but I couldn't just sit around and do nothing," Matt replied as his eyes tilted down to the ground.

"Besides, if he had, I probably would have been a goner," Tai interjected. "Be thankful that we're all in one piece." He then turned to Izzy. "What are you doing here, Izzy?"

"Gennai told me that the source of the fog was the TV station," the computer genius answered seamlessly. "I came by to see if there were people inside. Luckily I found Mr. Ishida when I did because Bakemon were everywhere and I could have been caught."

He finally noticed everyone's long faces. Not only that, but he could sense the dread that flowed through them. Something terrible had happened.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

"Not really," Sora answered. "The four of us tried to free everyone from the convention center but we got caught. Myotismon then came along and nearly killed Matt and Tai, but Kari gave herself up to save us."

Izzy's face fell as well. He was afraid that this scenario would occur, and now it had. They needed to get Kari back at all costs before Myotismon destroyed her.

"It's going to take a miracle at this point to get her back," Tai sighed heavily.

"Hey, you guys!"

The five Destined Jedi turned to see Joe and TK running towards them. Both Matt and Mr. Ishida were surprised to see the youngest member of the Takaishida family, but only the older blonde was happy to see him.

"Matt! Daddy!" the boy cried as he and Joe finally reached them. He immediately rushed to hug his father's legs.

"TK, what are you doing here?" the man demanded, ruffling his youngest son's head as a smile began to emerge from the corners of his lips.

"I saw everything that was happening on TV and I just had to come," TK replied. "I brought Mom with me too, but she couldn't finish the journey with us."

"It's all right. The important thing is that you're safe. Now would you all mind explaining to me what is going on?"

Before either of the kids could say anything, Wizardmon stepped forward to make his presence known.

"Where's Kari?" he asked urgently.

Everyone's glum faces confirmed it to him, but Matt verbally announced it.

"Myotismon got her," he said, glancing up at the round observatory above them.

The wizard could sense the girl, as well as Myotismon, when he followed Matt's eyes toward the round ball-shaped part of the building. No telling what the vampire was doing to her at this moment while they were all here.

"Not for long he won't," he smiled underneath his cloak.

* * *

Kari wasn't scared…okay, maybe a little, but she wasn't going to cry like a little kid. No matter what her brother thought, she was a big girl who could handle herself in almost any situation. So why were her knees quivering and her body numb like she were standing on the edge of a cliff? Maybe it was because she was looking her fate right in the face, and was ready to take it head on.

Also the fact that Phantomon's scythe loomed over her like a hanging piano, ready to slice her if she didn't cooperate, was enough to frighten her a little. Her eyes then turned to Gatomon, who was carried by the scruff of her neck by the tall Digimon standing before her.

Myotismon could smell the defiance, as well as the fear, in the girl as he looked her over like a butcher inspecting the best cuts of meat. She wasn't that impressive compared to the other Destined Jedi with her soft eyes and gentle personality. Nevertheless, she was the eighth Destined Jedi and needed to be destroyed, but he wasn't going to slaughter her just yet. He liked to play with his food; it was one of his secret shames.

"Little girl," he said as he gave an ominous chuckle. "Why have you chosen to show yourself to me? Do you have any idea of what is about to happen to you?"

"I've got a guess," Kari replied timidly, sensing the ideas that swirled within the vampire's mind. She knew that he planned to kill her.

"Then why?"

"Because you were hurting my brother and his friends, as well as all those others you took prisoner. Someone had to stop you from hurting innocent people!"

Myotismon was taken aback by the courage that this girl showed, even in the face of danger. He had to admit that he was impressed. It made killing her all the more interesting.

"My, what a thoughtful little girl you are," he chuckled before turning to the cat in his hand. She refused to look at the small girl in front of them. "Gatomon, why won't you look at the eighth Jedi's face?"

"Because she's not the eighth Destined Jedi," Gatomon snapped defiantly. "I don't sense any Force energy coming from her at all. Why should I care who she is?"

"Is that so?" Myotismon smiled wickedly as he snapped his fingers. "Then you won't mind if I do this."

A cry from Kari caught Gatomon's attention. DemiDevimon began yanking on Kari's hair, emitting yelps of pain from the girl. She couldn't help the next words that came out of her mouth.

"Kari!" she cried, her face instantly turning to horror as she gave her secret away. It was all over now.

"Kari?" her captor snickered. "Interesting that you know her name since you haven't seen her before. Then I will simply destroy the both of you before I take care of the others with no interference."

' _I messed up big time!'_ Gatomon thought as her face fell. _'I'm sorry, Gennai. I couldn't complete my mission.'_

But before she could completely submit defeat, she scratched Myotismon's gloved hand. The shock from it, rather than actually being injured, was enough for the vampire to let her go. She then ran for Kari, leaping up to take a swipe at DemiDevimon. The diminutive bat hit the ground a few feet away.

"Together again," Myotismon grinned wickedly as Gatomon stood protectively in front of Kari. The red blade of his lightsaber emerged, earning a spark of fear in Kari's eyes as they traced over the blade. "Too bad it'll be short-lived."

He raised his saber up over his head. Kari had to force herself to not shut her eyes before the inevitable happened.

' _Oh, Tai. Where are you?'_ she thought.

A loud roar filled the room as the activation of a lightsaber blade pierced the air. As Myotismon brought the blade down towards the girl, a blue lightsaber met it halfway. Kari followed the blade to see Tai was the one holding it, his face straining as he used all his strength to keep the saber away from her.

"Don't you dare touch her!" her brother growled in the darkest tone that Kari had ever heard. "You just picked on the wrong guy's little sister, Fang Face."

Myotismon forced their sabers apart to break the lock. He saw that the other Destined Jedi had gathered in the room, their lightsabers drawn and activated. How long was this going to go on?

"I would have thought you'd learn your lesson by now, Jedi of Courage," he retorted. "It's useless to resist me."

Tai smirked at him. "I am a slow learner." He then pulled a lightsaber from his pocket. "Kari, catch this!" he said as he tossed it to her.

The girl caught the saber and activated it without hesitation. Just like her brother's, the blade was a light blue. All eight Destined Jedi stood ready to fight, knowing that this is where it all would end.

Myotismon frowned as he glared at the children. They had been a thorn in his side for far too long. He realized that not only would he have the chance to destroy the eighth Jedi, but he could destroy the whole lot now, just like he wanted it to be.

Seconds ticked by almost audibly as the two sides sized each other up. All the kids could hear besides the humming of their lightsabers was the beating of their hearts. Sweat dripped down Tai, Joe, and Izzy's foreheads as the tension reached a climax.

"Let's move this elsewhere, shall we?" Myotismon grinned before unleashing Force waves from both hands. The air filled with the sound of shattered glass as the windows in the observatory were blown out. The kids raised their arms toward their faces to keep any stray shards from cutting them. When they finally felt that it was safe to drop their guard, Myotismon was gone.

"Over here!"

The children turned to look out the shattered windows. Myotismon stood out on a narrow walkway that went across the roof of the TV station, looking at them expectantly.

"Come and fight me if you dare," he chuckled, raising his saber.

"I am really getting sick of that laugh," Sora groaned as the Destined Jedi made their way out onto the walkway. The gusting winds blew their hair and clothes in all directions as they tried to keep their balance.

The assault began in a flash. The kids tried to overwhelm Myotismon with their larger numbers, thinking if they all could attack at once, one of them would get an opening and take it. Phantomon and DemiDevimon, however, had other plans as they met the assault head on.

"You squirts have foiled our plans for the last time," DemiDevimon said as he launched Demi Dart after Demi Dart towards Joe, Sora, and Mimi. Their stout defenses, however, ensured that the attacks did not get through to hit their mark.

Phantomon used the Force to almost send Izzy flying off of the roof of the building. The boy clung onto the metal bar that served as the difference between life and death. His fingers strained as he struggled to hang on.

"Help!" he cried, adrenaline surging through his body as his legs kicked at air.

While Matt dealt with Phantomon, Tai rushed over to help his comrade.

"Hold on, Izzy! I've got you!" he assured as he grabbed the boy's hand and helped pull him up.

The two jumped back into the action with well-timed strikes, catching the phantom Digimon by surprise. As he moved to block their attacks, Phantomon left himself open to an attack from Matt, which the blonde immediately took advantage of. With his back turned, Matt impaled his lightsaber through his chest. The ghoul let out a pained cry before evaporating into small particles of data.

With the children distracted, Myotismon set his sights quickly on Kari. The girl sensed the attack that was coming her way and raised her saber to block the vampire's blade purely out of instinct.

"Prepare to die, child," he wickedly hissed.

From almost out of nowhere, a sharp pain shot up through his back. His teeth clenched together to bear the pain as he turned to see who had given the cheap shot, taking his attention away from Kari.

"Who did that?"

"That would be me," Wizardmon said with a chuckle in his voice. His white lightsaber was pointed towards the vampire.

"Wizardmon," Myotismon's face firmed into a concentrated glare. "You survived."

"Surprised?" the wizard smirked under his cloak, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "You can't get rid of me that easily, not so long as I still have my purpose."

"And what purpose is that?"

"To protect the eighth Destined Jedi and the Digimon that guides her."

Before anyone could do anything, Myotismon raised a clenched fist. Choking sounds escaped Wizardmon's mouth as he was raised into the air, grasping his throat. Everyone gasped in horror at the sight they were seeing.

"When will you learn to keep your nose out of others' business, Wizardmon?" the vampire chuckled sadistically as he threw the wizard against the observatory. He crumpled to the ground in a heap as Myotismon turned his attention back to Kari.

"It ends here," he said as he lifted his saber. A powerful Force wave, however, pushed him back. Tai and the other Destined Jedi stood protectively in front of Kari.

"You want her, you're going to have to go through us," the leader challenged.

Myotismon looked them over with an amused expression. The glint in his eye made the group of kids uneasy, like he had something sinister in mind for them.

"Fools," he muttered before channeling a large amount of Force energy into the palms of his hands. He finally unleashed it with a grunt, sending them skidding across the walkway in all directions, leaving Kari completely helpless.

Despite the overwhelming odds against her, the girl stayed strong by holding her lightsaber defensively like she had seen her brother do. Myotismon snickered at her attempt at bravery, and with two swipes of his saber sent the blade flying from her hands.

"As I was saying, it ends here, eighth Destined Jedi," he chuckled as his lips rose into an evil sneer, relishing in the moment that was about to come. His arm twitched in anticipation as the girl eyed the blade fearfully.

With a loud cry, Myotismon raised his lightsaber bayonet style, prepared to run the girl through and end her life. Kari shut her eyes tight as the blade came towards her. The familiar sound of laser meeting flesh filled the air, followed by a dying gasp.

Kari couldn't believe it. Why wasn't she dead? The last thing she heard was the sound of Myotismon's lightsaber surging towards her and hitting something. Curious, she took a chance and hesitantly opened one eye. What she saw caused her to gulp back a scream in horror.

It wasn't her that Myotismon had run through. It was Wizardmon. The tip of the blade came out of his back, impaling him completely. He fell to the ground on his back as Myotismon withdrew the saber from his torso.

"Next time, don't get in my way again, Wizardmon," he hissed as he stared at the dying wizard.

Tears erupted from Kari's eyes as she clutched the fallen Digimon.

"Wizardmon, are you okay?" she whimpered. "Please answer!"

Wizardmon coughed before rasping, "Are you ok-kay, Kari?"

She nodded, snot starting to fall down her nose as her tears overwhelmed her so much that she couldn't speak any words.

"I'm glad," the wizard smiled softly. "I want you to remember one thing: Light can always be found, even in the darkest of times. Gatomon learned that at the very end. Continue being the light that shines for others. May the Force be with you."

With one last gasp of breath, Wizardmon's eyes closed forever.

"Wizardmon-" Kari sniffled as he disappeared into data. She finally lost control of herself and sobbed for the fallen Digimon.

As she sobbed into the spot where Wizardmon vanished, the symbol on her arm started to glow a bright, blinding pink. Everyone shielded their eyes as the entire top of the TV station started to glow like a lighthouse beacon.

"What's going on?" Myotismon cried, not liking where things were going.

Kari glared at him with a look of complete hatred. Using the Force, she called her lightsaber to her hand, unleashing the blue blade within it. The other kids soon joined.

"You will pay for what you have done, Myotismon," Kari said slowly. "You kidnap my parents, hurt my brother and his friends, and now you have killed an innocent Digimon."

"And just how are you going to do that?" Myotismon sneered.

Tai then stood alongside his sister.

"With us," he said. "You ready, guys?"

The other Destined Jedi nodded, awaiting Tai's signal to begin. Before Myotismon even knew what happened, the first seven charged towards him, the symbols on their arms glowing brighter than before.

Matt used his enhanced speed boost to move in to cut him and then move back out before he could land a counterstrike; Mimi splashed him with a wave of water she conjured from Tokyo Bay. Whenever Myotismon would try to use a Force attack, Joe would use his newly-acquired Force shields defense to block them.

"He's all yours, Tai!" Matt gave the brunette a wink.

Tai did not hesitate and used his indefensible attacks to carve through the vampire's defense. With one strike, he not only knocked away Myotismon's blade, but cut off his hand along with it. The vampire fell to his knees as he looked down at the spot where his hand once was. Tai then turned to Kari.

"Your turn, Kari. You've got him."

Myotismon wasn't going to go down quietly just yet. Even if things looked grim, there was no way the Destined Jedi were going to get any satisfaction out of this.

"If you should strike me down, I'll come back even more powerful than you could possibly imagine," he sneered as the girl stepped towards him.

"Save the speech for the afterlife, Obi-Wan Kenobi," she snapped with a roll of her eyes. Bringing her blade back, Kari roared as she plunged the blade into Myotismon's chest.

"That's for Wizardmon," she hissed as the vampire's eyes rolled back into his head while he fell back. His body disappeared before he could hit the ground.

The kids couldn't believe it. They won. For a second, they didn't know what to do other than stare at where Myotismon had fallen. Finally, TK broke the ice by giving a happy yell, which everyone else soon copied. Tai laughed happily as he wrapped Kari into a hug before swinging her around.

"We did it!" Joe cried.

A cry from Mimi, however, halted the celebration.

"Wait! The fog hasn't disappeared," she observed. "You'd think it would since we destroyed Myotismon."

Everyone looked up at the sky and were dismayed that Mimi was right. The fog in fact got thicker rather than lighter.

"You're right, Mimi," Matt nodded. "I have a bad feeling about this. I don't think we've seen the last of old Fang Face just yet."

* * *

 **Is Myotismon really gone? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Nooooooo! Wizardmon! Arguably one of the saddest deaths in the entire series, but he died a hero because he gave his life up so that Kari could live. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter because I have some news that I will wait to tell you after this exclusive. You saw it first right here; an exclusive passage from the upcoming sequel to this story: Attack of the Emperor.**

 _"Tai, Joe, Sora," Gennai eyed the three teenagers. "I have a favor to ask of you."_

 _"Of course, Gennai," Tai nodded. "What is it?"_

 _"I want you to train the new Destined Jedi," the old man explained. "Show them the ways of the Force, teach them everything that I taught you so that balance can be restored to the Digital World. When they are ready, you will send them to my younger counterpart in the Digital World for the last phase of their training. A place that I'm sure you remember well."_

 _A collective chill ran down their spines as the three Jedi immediately knew what he was talking about. They were still haunted by the memories of what happened in the forest and didn't wish the same fate upon anyone, not even their worst enemies. In the forest, they had to face their worst fears or worst experiences. For Tai, that was when Kari almost died under his watch; Sora, when she told her mother off for missing the soccer game; and Joe's was his fear of being a failure and his parents disowning him for not being as good as his brothers._

 _"The forest?" Joe asked hesitantly._

 _A nod from Gennai confirmed their fears._

 _"That's right. Tai, I also want you to train Kari as well. She still has much to learn. Can I trust you all to do this?"_

 **Plenty of exciting things to come until then, but there's a taste of what will be coming in Attack of The Emperor.**

 **And here is the other bit of news: It really hurts me to say this, but because I have an almost impossible workload with school due to it being the last week before finals this upcoming week, I have to put my time into my school work. This means that I won't update next week. It hurts me because not only have I not missed an update in six months roughly, but I put a lot of pressure on myself to get these updates out on time; not for me, but for you guys. You guys are the reason I do this so everything I do is for you. This time, I have to focus on me for a change.**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe like always. For all you readers who haven't submitted a review, but would like to, go ahead. I don't care if it's a simple "good job" or a long review. I love them all no matter what. I'll see you guys in two weeks. Thank you for being so understanding.**


	35. Hour of the Beast

**Reviews:**

 **Guest: Thank you so much for the kind words. They really helped. Hope you continue to review.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: No they do not. It for sure is.**

 **Music Chick: Yes it is. And on we go ;-)**

 **Thank you to Tomoe Mami for favoriting and following the story.**

* * *

 **I'm baaaaaaaaack! Terribly sorry for the week off, but school came calling. Now I am on break with nothing to interrupt me from continuing on with our adventure. Thank you all for the support. It was much needed. Anyway, let's get back to the story. While the kids destroyed Myotismon, the fog has not gone away. What could be the reason why? Find out now.**

* * *

The kids couldn't believe it. Myotismon was gone, leaving behind nothing more than his mask, but the dense fog remained. In fact, it only seemed to get thicker by the second. After putting themselves through all that trouble, it still was not enough.

"What is it going to take for us to end this?" Joe cried as he kicked a nearby can, frustrated by this turn of events. "Beating Myotismon didn't solve anything. What are we going to do now?"

"Thank you so much for gracing us with your positivity today, Joe," Matt drawled with a roll of his eyes. "Now, are you finished?"

Tai surveyed the rubble that surrounded them. The fight had caused the observatory at the TV station to become unstable and collapse to the ground below, taking a large portion of the structure with it. Neither he nor any of the others were hurt, thankfully, but the sight of the destruction sent a chill down his spine.

"Is everything going to be okay, Tai?" Kari asked.

Tai turned his attention away from the rubble to look down at his sister's pleading expression. He gave her a smile and nodded with assurance.

"It'll be fine, Kari. We'll find a way to win," he said, ruffling her hair.

A light from above fell through the fog and landed right in the middle of the circle that the Destined Jedi had formed. The light expanded to reveal Gennai standing before them.

"Greetings, my young friends," the old man said with a smile. "You'll be happy to hear what I have to tell you. I have found a way to defeat Myotismon for good."

The kids' faces brightened instantly. It was about time that they received some good news.

"How do we do it?" Izzy asked.

"There is a prophecy I discovered on a piece of ancient text I came across a few minutes ago," Gennai explained. "I managed to translate it. It says the following: _The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats. The fallen people will invoke the name of the undead Digimon king and when the clock strikes the hour of the beast, the undead king will reveal himself in his true form as the beast. Then when all seems lost, the light and hope inside the holders of power will rise to destroy him."_

"That's about as clear as mud," Sora complained. "What does it mean?"

"That's for you to figure out," Gennai said with a wink and a chuckle. "I must be off now. May the Force be with all of you. You're going to need it for what's coming your way."

With that, he disappeared, leaving the Destined Jedi confused about the meaning of the prophecy he had given them. It seemed as though there were many prophecies to be dug up in the Digital World, but not one of them were spelled out in plain English.

"Any ideas what that prophecy means, Izzy?" Matt asked as he turned to the computer genius. A perplexed look was plastered on the boy's face as he thought deeply.

"I wonder," Izzy muttered as he pulled out his laptop and started to type away.

"In the meantime, why don't we all regroup somewhere else and figure out a plan of what to do next?" Tai suggested.

"I personally wouldn't mind going back to check on my folks," Joe shrugged. "Heaven knows what may have happened to them."

"And I need to get out of these clothes," Mimi chimed in, staring down at her pink pajamas.

With no objections from anyone else, the group walked away from the television station, wanting to freshen up and be ready for whatever was going to be coming their way soon.

* * *

Joe felt the door hit against something on the floor as he pushed it open to enter his family's apartment. With it open just a bit, he squeezed his way through a small opening to see that a barricade had been set up against the entrance to the apartment. He then closed the door behind him.

The living room, which normally was kept neat and tidy, was disheveled with objects being spilled across the floor. Lamps and vases were knocked over, books were scattered from one part of the room to the other, and Joe could swear that he saw a hole in the television, which turned out to be a reflection from the light.

"Mom? Dad?" he called softly, hoping one of them would answer.

No reply could be heard as he made his way further into the apartment, being careful not to trip over anything or step on broken glass. Reaching out with the Force, he could sense that neither one of his parents were in the apartment.

Someone else, though, was.

Joe reached down to grasp his lightsaber. Could it be a stray Bakemon that stayed behind? He couldn't get a solid enough read on the presence to know who it was off the top of his head. Maybe they were hiding from the Bakemon and didn't know they were gone.

A hand grasped his shoulder.

Joe let out a small scream as he turned with the speed of a hiccup and activated his lightsaber, ready to strike down whoever it was that surprised him. The familiar face of Jim stopped him from dropping his wrists swiftly to deliver the strike.

"Jim, it's you," he gasped, deactivating the weapon with a sigh of relief. "Don't do that!"

"Jeez, Joe, what did I ever do to you?" his brother raised his hands defensively before turning his gaze to the saber that Joe almost skewered him with. "Where did you get one of those things anyway?"

"It's a long story. What happened here?"

"Those creepy things came in and trashed the place," Jim explained. "Mom and Dad weren't home, so they weren't taken like everyone else. I hid in the closet to avoid capture."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that Myotismon has been destroyed," Joe smiled, trying to turn the discussion toward somewhere more positive.

"Who's Myotismon? For once in your life, Joe, you actually sound like you know what you're talking about," Jim then shrugged. "Guess there's a first time for everything."

"Shut up," Joe bit with a frown. Even in situations like these, Jim was always one to crack a joke. "Let's go downstairs and meet up with everyone."

The two left the apartment and headed down to the lobby to regroup with the rest of the team. Izzy's parents were now there as well, with Mr. Ishida getting them up to speed on what was happening around the district. Mimi had changed back into her familiar attire.

"Okay, so here is the plan," Mr. Ishida said once everyone gathered around. "All of you will go to the convention center and secure things down there," he then turned to his sons. "Boys, you come with me to see if we can find a way through the fog barrier."

Both blonde-haired boys nodded.

"You've got it, Dad," said Matt.

"We don't know what will happen, and when it will happen, but we must be ready for when it does," Tai smiled with determination. "May the Force be with us all. Let's go!"

With that, the Kido brothers jumped onto Jim's moped and sped down towards the Big Sight while everyone else ran on foot. It didn't take them long to arrive, giving Jim time to talk to his brother seriously for a few minutes.

"You still wanting to be a doctor, Joe?" he asked after removing his helmet.

Joe nodded his head. "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I ask because I want you to be happy. I want you to be able to decide your own future, not letting Dad or Mom or anyone decide it for you. Also, you're going to have to do something about fainting at the sight of blood if you hope to be a doctor."

"I do not!" Joe shouted defensively.

"Then what do you call falling back and hitting the ground unconscious after you cut your finger that one time?" Jim snickered.

"I was seven! I had never seen blood before!"

The older Kido brother looked past Joe to see that the other Destined Jedi had finally caught up to them.

"We'll continue this later, Joe. Your friends are coming."

Joe rejoined the others as Tai started to explain his plan.

"Joe," he said, turning to look at the older boy. "Are you and Izzy ready for some action?"

Joe felt a confident smile begin to rise from the corner of his lips. After his big win in Tokyo Bay, he was ready to jump back in for some more action.

"You betcha, Tai," he responded. "Let's get in there."

Izzy gave a nod as the two of them activated their lightsabers, sensing a few Bakemon inside of the Big Sight. The two stood on either side of the automatic doors, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Joe nodded his head in a silent count until he reached three. They rushed inside. Adrenaline and power surged through the two boys as they struck down any Bakemon that crossed their path. Blue and green spun in a dizzying array of color as the ghosts disappeared after being sliced by the lightsaber blades.

Once all of the Bakemon had been destroyed, Joe and Izzy deactivated their lightsabers, slapping each other a high five. They turned back to look at the other Destined Jedi with confident smiles.

"You can come in now," Izzy said, flashing a thumb's up.

"Way to go, guys," Tai praised, giving both of them a high five once he and the others got inside.

It didn't take them long to find where the adults were being kept. When they entered the large space, they were shocked to see so many bodies lying on the floor. It was like they had walked into a makeshift mortuary; no one moved. The adults were perfectly still in a death-like sleep.

Tai, Kari, Mimi, and Sora soon found their parents. They tried to revive them, but nothing they tried worked. The Kido brothers evaluated a few people to determine whether they were okay or not.

"Are they-?" Joe began to ask until Jim answered for him.

"No, they're still alive," the older brother said. "Their pulses are normal, almost as if they're asleep."

Joe sighed in relief. "That's good to hear."

After a few moments, Jim decided it was time to continue the conversation they were having earlier.

"Joe, you have to do things your way, not how others want you to," he said. "It's your life. Don't let Dad or anyone tell you who and what to be. Don't be like John."

"Easy for you to say."

Jim flashed his brother a smile. "Once I become a doctor, I'm getting out of here. I'm going to South America, Africa, anywhere that I can be of help and make a real difference. Dad's already said he doesn't approve of it, but I don't care. It's my decision, not his. Anyway, we have to see to all these people."

"What can we do?"

Jim had a hard time coming up with an answer to that. Even though he was top of his class at school, he was still just a student – limited in what he could do.

"If only there was a way we can get help from the outside," he muttered, angry at being so helpless. "I wish I could call Mom and Dad and have them be here."

On the other side of the room, Kari looked around to see all the bodies lying on the ground. If only she had revealed herself sooner, then none of this would have happened because of her.

"This is all my fault," she sighed, squatting down.

Sora turned away from her mother to flash the girl an assuring smile.

"Don't worry," she said. "This spell, or whatever it is, will wear off soon and everyone will just wake up again. Everything will be all right, Kari."

Kari gave a small smile of her own as she nodded, trying to feed off of the older girl's confidence.

Sora returned her gaze to her mother.

"Yeah, isn't that right, Mom?" she muttered quietly as she stroked her mother's hand tenderly.

* * *

The fog got thicker as Matt, TK, and their father ventured further and further away from shore in the small raft they had found on the beach. When it seemed like things would get clearer up ahead, more fog would surround them. There was no way out.

"It's hopeless," Mr. Ishida grumbled. "There's no way to get out of here, guys. Let's go back to shore."

Even though he knew his father was right, TK still held on to the hope that there would be a way out as they began paddling back to the shore.

"There has to be another way," he insisted.

"No matter where we go, there's fog on all sides of us, TK," Matt said with a sad look. "It's better if we just go back and regroup with the others."

TK sighed heavily and finally relented to his brother's idea. Things would be easier if all eight of them were together to fight.

They reached the shore in just a few minutes due to how calm the water was. After they disembarked, Matt and TK felt something beginning to approach them. They concentrated heavily on the energy they felt, hoping to narrow down what it could be.

Mr. Ishida was at the car when he noticed his sons still standing on the beach.

"Guys, what is it? Let's go!" he ordered.

"Wait, Dad," Matt replied, the hairs on his arms beginning to stand up on end. Something was behind him and TK.

A growl that sounded like a cross between a frog and a crocodile rang out behind the two brothers as creatures began to emerge from the water. The two activated their lightsabers in a flash as the creatures attacked them, striking down any that came within a foot of them.

"Oh no! Not these guys again!" Mr. Ishida cried, recognizing them as the creatures that attacked him the previous night. "Boys, get up here!"

Matt and TK nodded before using the Force to push the amphibian-like mammals further away from the shore. They made a run for the car. Even with the Force push, more kept coming from Tokyo Bay.

All three of them jumped into the car and were ready to make a run for it, but the creatures swarmed the car, eventually tipping it over on its side. There was nowhere for them to go now. The screeching of metal against the claws of the Digimon was so loud that TK had to cover his ears to block out the sound.

Over the sound of the creatures growling, the screeching of many bats could be heard.

"Now what's going on?" Matt cried as he closed his eyes, afraid that something bigger was about to come their way and finish the job of destroying them.

Light poured into the car instead of getting darker. When they opened their eyes, Matt and Mr. Ishida saw that the creatures were gone. The bats they had heard flew away from the car. It was like they had been sent to get rid of the aquatic mammals that were on top of them.

"What happened?" Matt asked as he opened the door.

"Look there!" TK cried, pointing towards the TV station.

The three of them saw a large group of bats flying towards what remained of the building. There were so many of them that it looked like a dark cloud was floating towards it.

"The sky will be darkened by the wings of many bats," Mr. Ishida recited, remembering the first line of the prophecy.

Matt and TK's faces paled. The prophecy was being set into motion.

They were running out of time.

* * *

Izzy stood before his parents in a large hall that was not too far from where all the adults were being kept. He was curious why his parents called him away from the others. It must have been something important. He could have used his mind reading power, but he wanted it to be a surprise.

Mr. and Mrs. Izumi fidgeted nervously as Izzy looked up at them expectantly. They knew that this day would come, but it didn't mean they were ready to follow through with it. What parent should have to say what they were about to say?

"Son," Mr. Izumi began, biting his lower lip. "When you went off and left us there in hiding, your mother and I thought we would never see you again. We talked, and we decided that the time had come for us to tell you that we're not your real parents, Izzy."

It felt like a weight had been lifted off of the two of them. For so long, they dreaded the day that they would have to tell Izzy that he was not their real son, but it felt good to have that burden off their minds.

Izzy's answer caught them off guard.

"I already know," he said. "I heard you talking once. I pretended that I hadn't heard anything, but then I thought I had misunderstood you. Then, I just wiped it from my mind entirely and pretended everything was the same as before. But it wasn't, and I didn't mean to but I started drifting away from you even more each day."

"That's why you buried yourself in that computer," Mr. Izumi surmised.

Izzy nodded. "That's right."

His father chuckled. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's who you are. You know, in some ways, you're the living image of your real father."

"What was my real father like?"

Mr. Izumi swallowed the lump in his throat that threatened to overpower him as he remembered Izzy's father. The two of them had been distant cousins, but they knew each other very well. It was still hard to talk about him sometimes.

"He was a fine man, and a brilliant mathematician," he said. "In fact, he was a lecturer at the university. We were distant cousins. I was his only living relative at the time that...it happened."

"It?" Izzy pressed. The emotional reaction of his father told him that this was something that was hard for him to talk about.

"Late one night, there was a terrible car accident," the man continued as a tear began to stray down his cheek. "He and your mother both died. She had no family of her own."

Mrs. Izumi continued where he left off, sensing that her husband was about to break down in tears if he kept going.

"We had lost a little boy of our own around the same time," she explained, getting just as emotional thinking of that horrible time. "So, when we were asked if we wanted to take care of you, it seemed like some kind of sign. We said yes."

"So you made me your son," Izzy muttered, finally beginning to understand his past a little more.

"We were going to tell you at some point, but we wanted you to grow up a little more," said Mr. Izumi, having finally gotten himself back under control. "But I can see that you figured it out on your own. We waited too long. I'm sorry, son."

Izzy shook his head. "No, Dad. Don't be sorry. It must have been hard for you to tell me this. And, well, I'm glad you did."

"We just want you to know that we love you, Izzy," his father smiled.

"As far as we're concerned, you are our real son, and nothing will ever change that," Mrs. Izumi added.

Izzy couldn't control the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes any longer as they finally began to stream down his face. He ran to wrap his arms around his mother's waist. Her apron soaked up his tears as muffled sobs could be heard from him.

Mr. and Mrs. Izumi simply held him as he continued to cry.

* * *

Just as Sora turned to check on her mother again, she was surprised to see her rise from the ground like a mummy coming back to life.

"Mom!" she cried, thinking that she had finally awoken from the spell.

Mrs. Takenouchi didn't seem to hear her. Like a zombie, she stuck her arms out in front of her.

"Lord Myotismon, lord and master," she chanted robotically, repeating it in a never-ending loop.

"Mom, snap out of it!" Sora said, shaking the woman to try and cut her off but it didn't work.

Soon all of the other people in the room began chanting the same thing. Tai and Mimi tried tending to their parents in hopes of snapping them out of their trance but were unsuccessful. It was like a spell had overcome all of them.

"What is going on here?"

They all turned to see Matt, TK, and their father enter the room. Mr. Ishida looked at Jim when he asked the question.

"Physically, they're still asleep," the older Kido brother informed. "It's like they're all having the same dream or something. I don't know what to make of it."

"Looks like the second part of the prophecy came true," Izzy said as he returned from the other room with his parents. "The fallen people will invoke the name of the undead king."

"The part about the bats has already happened," Matt added. "But what was next?"

"I think it was something about the undead king returning as the beast or something like that," said Sora.

"That's correct, Sora," Izzy nodded as he pulled out his laptop. He then pulled up a document that he made with the prophecy on it. "It says that when the clock strikes the hour of the beast, the undead king will reveal himself as the beast."

"So what's the hour of the beast?" Tai asked.

Mr. Ishida was quick to respond. "Six-six-six," he said before elaborating further. "Six seconds and six minutes past six o'clock."

Joe checked his watch to see what time it was. His face paled instantly before letting out a small yelp.

"Yikes! It's six o'clock now, guys!"

"Then we have to hurry," Mr. Ishida said. "Everyone to the car!"

As everyone piled into the van and drove off towards the TV station, the amount of bats flying overhead seemed to triple since they had been inside. If they looked like a dark cloud before, it was now a large typhoon of bats and they were all coming together at the station.

"What's our plan, Tai?" Matt asked from the front seat.

"Isn't it obvious? We have to destroy him!" Tai replied, hiding the fact that he wasn't sure what the plan was at this point. How do you know what to do against something you haven't seen?

"Yeah, but how do we do that?"

"I'm working on it!"

Joe eyed his watch with horror as the seconds ticked by. It was now five minutes past six; they would be too late to stop what was happening.

"Five. Four," he counted down. "Three. Two. One."

Once the second meter on his watch hit six, an explosion rang out through the entire district, almost like a bomb had exploded. Everyone shielded their eyes for a moment before they were met with the most horrendous, yet awesome, sight.

Standing in the ruins of the TV station was a monster about the size of Godzilla, but this one was even more fierce and imposing than Godzilla could ever be. Long blonde hair cascaded down its back, with two long red horns jutting out of it. The creature's lower body was black while its torso and arms were red. Two wings emerged from its shoulders and two others from its lower back, with a tail dangling behind it.

This was Myotismon's true form.

The Destined Jedi stared with their mouths gaped in awed horror at the magnificent sight before them. This would be the toughest test that they have faced so far. Their hands trembled and their knees shook as their eyes never left the monster before them.

"How are we going to fight that?" Joe squeaked, feeling like he was about to wet his pants at any second.

"You can't!" A familiar cackle sounded as DemiDevimon hovered over the Jedi. His grin was as wide as a Cheshire cat's.

"Let me introduce to you the new and improved VenomMyotismon," the bat sneered. "The king of the undead. He's the 'un' and you're the 'dead'. This is the day that the Destined Jedi are destroyed forever. It's been nice knowing you brats."

"More energy!" the giant vampire roared, his voice booming across the entire district. The ground beneath the children shook from the sound of his voice. "I'm hungry!"

"Not a problem, boss," DemiDevimon said as he returned to his master. "There's all those people waiting for you at the convention center. You'll be feasting soon, I promise."

"Why wait?" VenomMyotismon smirked as he eyed the diminutive bat hungrily. "I think I'll start off with a little snack first."

As he opened his mouth, a big gust of wind pulled everything nearby towards him – including DemiDevimon.

"Hey! What are you doing?" the bat cried as he was pulled in by the wind. He flapped his wings frantically to try and get out of it, but it proved hopeless as he was sucked into the vampire's mouth.

The children gasped in horror as VenomMyotismon burped before setting his sights on them. His footsteps shook the earth with each resounding boom.

"Tai, what do we do?" Mimi asked in a shaky voice.

Tai's lower jaw shook up and down, letting out shaky breaths as fear overpowered him. When he tried to muster up words, they came out as unintelligible gasps.

Matt could see that he wasn't going to answer, so he spoke instead.

"Let's get him, guys!" he cried, activating his lightsaber as he charged toward the monster. After a couple seconds, the others snapped out of their awed stupor to follow the blonde after activating their sabers. Tai stayed glued to his spot.

VenomMyotismon sneered as the Destined Jedi charged towards him. With one flap of his wings, a strong gust of wind blew towards them. They tumbled down like dominoes as the wind pushed them.

Tai could only watch as Matt got up and charged at the monster again. With one mighty swipe of his hand, VenomMyotismon sent Matt flying into the side of the nearest building, shattering a window as he was sent inside.

' _What are we going to do? We can't beat him like this. Is this the end of us and everything we love?'_

* * *

 **Things look grim, but will the Destined Jedi find a way to destroy VenomMyotismon before he takes out the entire district first? Find out on the next episode of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Hope you guys all enjoyed that chapter and it was worth the week-long interruption. Hopefully the way I switched up the prophecy makes sense, which I'm pretty sure it does. You'll find out what that last part is about next week.**

 **As always, be sure to leave a review and subscribe as we continue on. See you all next week. MadDog out.**


	36. The Battle For Earth

**Reviews**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yes it has. Kyrie eleison (Lord, have mercy).**

 **Music Chick: Glad you feel that way. Hope this lives up to your expectations.**

* * *

 **Gee, judging by all the views this past week, I take it you guys missed me while I was gone XD Well, here we are with the last chapter in this arc. Things look grim for the Destined Jedi, but will they find a way to destroy VenomMyotismon? Find out now.**

* * *

"Tai!"

Tai didn't respond to the call of his name. His eyes stayed glued on the hulking, massive form that was VenomMyotismon. If the old Myotismon was bad, this version of him was even worse on a scale of one to infinity.

' _How are we going to defeat him?'_ the boy thought as his knees began to shake. _'We're powerless to do anything right now.'_

"Tai! Wake up!" came the voice again.

He finally snapped out of his awed stupor to look down at Kari beside him. For someone so young, the girl was handling the situation a lot better than he was at the moment. He could still sense how afraid she was, but she wasn't going to show it.

"What do we do now?" Kari asked, needing direction from her brother as the rest of the Destined Jedi fought in vain to slow down VenomMyotismon. Matt still had not reappeared after being sent into the building, leading Tai to wonder if he was truly okay.

He drew his lightsaber from his belt and activated it, causing Kari to do the same.

"Let's get in there," he said as the two of them rushed into the battle to provide much-needed assistance to the others.

All around them, desolation and destruction lay in the wake of VenomMyotismon. Buildings had gaping holes in them, the streets were littered with debris and rubble, and cars were either flipped over or completely destroyed. It was starting to look like what Tai had seen in his premonition. He and Kari ducked behind a large piece of rubble to stay out of the monster's sight.

"This is the day that will be long remembered!" VenomMyotismon roared as beams shot from his eyes towards a nearby building. The structure disappeared instantly as the beams struck it. "I will be known as the one who destroyed the Destined Jedi forever! Where are you lot? Stop running and die an honorable death."

Tai gritted his teeth. The bastard was playing with them like a cat with a mouse before it pounced and ate it up. Even if it seemed like he didn't know where they were, the suspicion that he did nagged at Tai's mind. They needed to do something quickly.

"Psst!"

Tai looked aimlessly for the source of the noise, but found nothing.

"Tai!" came the loud whisper again.

"Sora?" he replied quietly. "Where are you?"

Ten yards away, a pink glove stuck out from behind another piece of rubble to wave him and Kari over. After making sure that VenomMyotismon's back was turned, the Kamiya siblings made a run for it. A beam hit the rubble they had been behind a few seconds later as they reached the debris where the others were hiding.

Tai saw that Sora was completely covered in dust and gravel, giving her the appearance of a ghost. Looking to his left, he saw Joe's shirt and vest had been torn up, exposing the boy's thin, bony torso. It was covered in bruises. Mimi and Izzy looked okay, as did TK, but Matt looked worse than any of them. His shirt had been ripped completely apart as his father tended to him. Blood dripped down his arms like little rivers.

"Oh my-" Kari began to say once she caught sight of Matt.

"It's…okay, Kari," the blonde rasped as he raised a thumb's up, despite the obvious pain in his face. "I'll be all right."

Sora made her way over to him, politely asking Mr. Ishida to let her take care of Matt. The red glow of her symbol filled the fort of debris with light as she used the Force to heal his injuries. Everyone watched in amazement as the cuts and bruises across his body closed up and disappeared, almost like they were never there to begin with.

The light died down once she finished, with Matt feeling re-energized. She smiled at him, which he returned with thankfulness in his gaze. Sora could swear that she saw his cheeks turn pink for a second.

"What's our plan?" Joe asked, feeling helpless just sitting around and waiting for VenomMyotismon to find them. "It won't be long until he gets lucky and finds us. We have to figure something out."

"Joe's right," Izzy concurred. "We can't stay here forever."

"What do you suggest we do?" Mimi shouted. "He's too big to fight head on! We'd be crushed!"

"She's right," Tai nodded. "We have to go about this a different way. What can we do that doesn't involve a straight fight?"

Everyone thought for a second as the sounds of VenomMyotismon's energy blasts echoed across the area like exploding bombs. Time was not in their favor, so they needed to come up with something creative and fast.

Finally, after a few moments, TK said, "Why don't we use the Force to throw things at him? We can stay out of sight and drive him crazy guessing where we are."

A few heads started to nod hesitantly at first, then more confidently as what TK was suggesting finally clicked with them.

"That's brilliant!" Tai exclaimed with a smile before ruffling the boy's head, earning a giggle from him. "Good thinking, TK. That's using your head. Here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

VenomMyotismon growled as he disintegrated another building, only to find that the Destined Jedi were not there either. He knew they were around; he could smell the Force energy radiating off of them, but they refused to come out and face him.

"Come out and fight, you cowards!" he roared as he scanned the entire area, seeing all the destruction that he had caused. "I know you are here!"

Suddenly, a large piece of debris came flying in and bounced off his forehead. The vampire groaned as pain shot through his head, reeling back a few steps due to the disorientation.

"Who did that?!" he growled, turning his head right and left swiftly to find who it was that had thrown the object. "Show yourself!"

But no one came out. Below, someone scurried from one piece of rubble to another while staying out of sight. More debris and large objects then collided with VenomMyotismon's back. After the initial pain, they became more of a nuisance to the monstrous vampire as the chunks of rock, asphalt, and stone bounced off of his body.

Then, someone shouted "NOW!" and the sound of lightsabers activating filled the air. All eight Destined Jedi then emerged from behind the debris that they were hiding behind.

"It's about time you all showed up!" VenomMyotismon said impatiently. "Because now is when you die!"

"We'll see about that, fang face," Tai shot back. "Let's do it, guys!"

The kids broke off into separate groups of two to surround the vampire from all sides. VenomMyotismon flapped his wings in strong gusts, but the Jedi stood their ground and never withered from their positions.

Tai made a dash for the monster's foot while Joe, Izzy, and Matt kept distracting him by using the Force to throw more rubble at his head. Once he grabbed hold, he began his climb up VenomMyotismon's leg. With his lightsaber in one hand, Tai began slashing the vampire's shin, calf, and thigh, earning screams of pain from the beast as he did so. He felt the limb start to shake and give out under the assault.

Seeing his chance, Tai leapt from the leg towards the vampire's waist to slice him in half. With a determined cry, he slashed his blade through the fur and bone of VenomMyotismon's waist. The monster roared in pain and fell to his knees as Tai descended towards the ground.

"That did it," he grinned.

But to everyone's horror, VenomMyotismon cackled loudly before rising to his feet. The Destined Jedi became frustrated as they watched him take their best shots like they were mere appetizers for him.

"You fools!" he roared. "You think you can defeat me? You have only awakened the beast within!"

From the slashed part of his waist, a face began to emerge from it. Mimi screamed while the others were merely surprised. It had to be one of the freakiest things any of them had ever seen.

"Well, that's different," Matt chuckled nervously.

The face then released a void of dark energy from its mouth, which blew the kids back when it made contact with the ground. Joe used his Force shields to block the attack momentarily, but he was still new to using them and couldn't hold it for much longer. He too was blown back into the rubble behind him.

"Now I'll devour all you so-called Destined Jedi," VenomMyotismon laughed triumphantly. "You've stood in my way for the last time, you little brats!"

Doubt began to set in as the Destined Jedi pulled themselves back up onto their feet. Maybe this really was the end. No matter what they did or how brilliant their plans seemed, it was not enough to overcome the roadblock in front of them. They were supposed to be the ones to save the world, but they couldn't do it.

But Tai was determined to not give up, even if it seemed like everyone else was ready to pack it in and call it a day. He was going to see this to the very end.

' _I will never give up the fight!'_ he clenched his lightsaber tightly.

A glow caught his attention. Tai looked down at his arm to see that his symbol was starting to glow. Looking around, he could see that the others' were as well. Something about this seemed familiar.

"Izzy!" he yelled to the computer genius. "What was the last line of that prophecy again?"

"It said that the light and hope inside of the holders of power would rise and allow them to destroy the beast," Izzy replied as his symbol glowed its purple color.

"This must be it!" Tai exclaimed.

The lights from the symbols rocketed up to the heavens and restrained VenomMyotismon at various places: his arms, legs, and neck. He roared in pain as the light and hope in the symbols felt like searing hot knives being driven into his body.

The face in his waist flailed around helplessly as the lights tightened around him even more.

"Curse you, Destined Jedi!" it cried. "Curse you and your power! Let go!"

Tai realized that the face must represent Myotismon's true form. If they could destroy it, then they would be able to finish him for good this time. It had to work.

"Matt!" he called to the blonde. "I've got an idea. You ready?"

Matt wasn't sure what Tai had in mind, but the confident look on the leader's face gave him the indication that he knew what he was doing.

"What do you have in mind?" he asked.

"Just go when I say go."

As he said that, Tai's eyes fell upon the wreckage of the former observatory of Fuji TV station on the ground nearby. His soccer instincts took over and used the Force to lift it into the air. It took all of Tai's strength to get it off the ground due to how heavy it was.

Like a pitcher setting up to deliver the ball, Tai began the wind up, concentrating heavily to put as much strength and Force energy as he could into the upcoming throw. With a loud grunt, he sent the globe flying towards the monster, smacking it dead in the middle.

"Matt, now!"

Matt nodded, activating his lightsaber before becoming a speeding blur. He was moving so fast that one blink was enough to miss him going by. The Force surged through him as he leapt up to VenomMyotismon's waist with a determined cry. Like a javelin thrower releasing their pole, he tossed his lightsaber towards the face. It shot like a speeding bullet until finally it sank deep between its eyes.

VenomMyotismon shrieked loudly as he began to convulse severely. After a few seconds, he finally disintegrated piece by piece before the children's eyes until there was nothing left. Matt used the Force to call his lightsaber back to his hand.

The air fell quiet as the Destined Jedi wrapped their heads around what had just happened. It was over. Myotismon had been defeated for good this time. Though this should be a cause for celebration, the kids simply stared up at where VenomMyotismon had previously stood for a few seconds.

The celebration then began.

"YES!" they all cried victoriously. After all the trouble they had gone through the past few days, it felt great to let it all loose in one giant display of glee. Myotismon had finally been vanquished, and they would never have to see him again.

Tai was so caught up in the moment that he failed to realize that he was holding Sora in his arms. As their eyes met, the realization finally caught up to the two of them and they turned away from each other, their cheeks burning red.

"S-Sorry," he said while scratching the back of his head nervously. "I just got so caught up in the moment that-"

"It's okay," she replied, rubbing her arm.

A cry from Joe brought some much-needed relief to the awkwardness that hovered above them.

"Am I going crazy or am I actually seeing what I think I'm seeing?" he shrieked, looking up at the sky with wide eyes.

The others followed suit and gasped at what they saw - a giant island was floating upside down in the middle of the night sky. If this was another thing that they had to get rid of, they were ready to surrender Earth's fate at this point.

"Things just keep getting weirder," Tai groaned. He felt ready to punch one of the blocks of concrete in frustration. "Just as we started to feel good about ourselves, something else happens. It's like the whole world is turning upside down."

The event wasn't just exclusive to Odaiba; it was happening around the entire world. From the Amazon in South America to the Gobi Desert, every living creature was fascinated by the display in the sky. Despite this, it did not show up on any satellites or radar that were broadcasting to the ground below. As far as the military and the government were concerned, the floating island did not exist.

The sound of a moped speeding down the road caught the children's attention. They smiled as they saw Jim on top of the bike. Maybe he had some good news for them. The teenager dismounted the scooter once he stopped near them.

"Jim!" Joe greeted his brother. "How's everyone at the convention center?"

Jim smiled. "You'll be happy to know that everyone has returned to normal. They're all okay."

The kids gave another loud cheer, happy to know that their families were okay. That little bit of good news instantly brightened their moods. Now all that was left was to figure out what the mysterious continent in the sky was.

Jim pulled a transistor radio out of his pocket and extended the antenna to get a reception. The news anchor's voice crackled with static for a few seconds until it finally came out clear.

" _The Self-Defense Force chief of staff has confirmed that the mysterious land mass in the sky is not an illusion. After several confrontations involving planes crashing after coming near it, the mass has been considered very dangerous."_

For a short period, no one said a thing as the anchor continued on. If planes were crashing after coming near the island, then it must not be normal. If Myotismon was not behind it, then what could have caused it? Even Izzy didn't seem to have an answer.

"TK!" a woman's voice cried out. "TK! Where are you?"

The boy turned to see his mother had finally caught up with him, instantly bringing a smile to his face. The ferries were now finally running since Myotismon had been defeated and the fog cleared away.

"Mama!" he cried as he ran towards her, letting her envelop him in a tight hug.

Matt and Mr. Ishida watched with an uncomfortable gaze. The man stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it due to the stress of seeing his ex-wife again overwhelming him. He didn't like to encourage bad habits in front of the boys, but he needed to quell the feeling of wanting to run and hide from her.

"You must have been terrified, sweetheart," Mrs. Takaishi said.

TK shook his head. "No way. Matt was keeping me safe the whole time."

Matt almost looked away as his mother set her sights on him. An appreciative smile adorned her face, like the one she gave him the other night when he brought TK back home. He didn't know why, but it was hard for him to be in the same place as her. Maybe it was because he subconsciously blamed her for the whole divorce, rather than his father.

"Matt," she greeted warmly.

"Hi, Mom," he replied in a quiet voice.

The only one who didn't seem to be sensing the tense atmosphere was TK because he pulled her towards his father and brother, making things even more uncomfortable for them.

"I'm so proud of you, Matt. Thank you," Mrs. Takaishi said as she gave him a hug. Matt did everything in his power not to tense up as her arms wrapped around him.

"Yeah, whatever. Don't mention it."

"Don't be like that," she snickered, kissing him on the cheek.

"Nancy," Mr. Ishida finally spoke, sounding like he was greeting an acquaintance rather than his ex-wife. "It's been a while, hasn't it? How are you?"

"Fine," she replied with a curt nod before eyeing the cigarette scornfully. "You know you shouldn't smoke, right?"

He dismissed her words with a wave of his hand as he took another puff on the blunt between his teeth.

While the Takaishida family got reacquainted with each other, Izzy was looking up at the island in the sky. After studying it for several moments, a particular mountain peak caught his eye. It looked awfully familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Tai, take a look with your telescope towards that mountain," he ordered, pointing his finger towards the mountain that caught his eye.

As Tai put the telescope up to his eye, he immediately sweat-dropped when he saw how many mountain peaks there were in the sky.

"Which one?" he asked, pointing it aimlessly.

"That one. The one with the large peak."

"Oh, like that's very specific!"

"Just follow my finger."

Tai turned his telescope to the right, hoping to finally find the peak that Izzy was pointing to. He gasped when he saw something else come into his line of vision.

"What is it?" Izzy asked. "Did you find it?"

"What I found…is a plane," Tai answered.

Up in the sky, an All Nippon Airways flight began its final approach to Haneda Airport, which was just across the bay from Odaiba. The pilots tried several times to radio ground control to confirm their landing vector, but couldn't get a hold of them. It would have gone to Narita instead, but the plane was low on fuel and couldn't hold out that much longer.

Suddenly, its control systems and everything else completely shut down without warning. The pilots tried to wrestle back control of the plane, but it proved to be a losing battle. All that could be done was to keep the inevitable crash under control.

Down below, the children gasped as they saw the plane's nose point downwards after coming close to the island in the sky. It was slowly gaining speed as it got closer and closer to the ground. From behind it, a familiar red beetle flew towards the plane like a speeding missile. Once Kuwagamon passed the plane, one of its wings froze, only accelerating its descent.

"We've got to do something, guys!" Tai cried as he stuck his hand out to try and use the Force to slow down the plane's momentum. He closed his eyes to fully concentrate on stopping it, but it was quickly becoming a strain on the boy. The plane was just too big, and he wasn't strong enough to handle things like this on his own.

"Guys, help!" he grunted. "I can't hold on any longer!"

Without a second of hesitation, the others joined in. Kari sat back and watched with wide eyes as the other kids moved their arms fluidly like Buddhist monks practicing kung fu up in the mountains of China. The plane started to slow down as it floated towards the water below. Due to its massive size, the Destined Jedi had to dig deep within themselves to find the strength to put it down safely.

Finally, after several tension-filled moments, the plane's underbelly touched down safely upon the water. The kids collapsed in exhaustion because of all the energy it took to bring the plane down, but were happy to have prevented a terrible disaster from occurring.

"Nice going, team," Tai smiled with a thumb's up. "But what the heck was Kuwagamon doing here?"

"Maybe he wanted to have some fun here too," said TK.

"Actually, this confirms my hypothesis," said Izzy. "The land mass in the sky is the Digital World."

Everyone gasped.

"The Digital World?!" Joe exclaimed.

"That explains why you recognize the mountain up there," Tai finally understood what Izzy was talking about. "That's Infinity Mountain."

"You're right," Izzy nodded. "I've also figured something else out. We have been back in the real world only for a few days, but time moves at a faster pace in the Digi-World; hundreds of years have passed there."

"And things seem to be getting worse there if what Gomamon told me was true," said Joe. "Guys, we have to go back now!"

"But how do we do that?" Matt asked. "The first time we went there, we were swept up in that wave. How are we going to get there now?"

Tai was the first to respond.

"We'll use the Force," he said. "Our combined power should create a gateway to the Digital World. Everybody, circle up and join hands."

The group got into a circle, taking each other's hands. They shut their eyes so that they could concentrate on generating enough power. With their hands joined, it felt like they were giving each other their power, making it feel even stronger than usual.

Their symbols glowed as brightly as the Northern Lights until they shot up into the air like earlier when they defeated VenomMyotismon. The lights then created a passageway that stretched up into the sky. The Destined Jedi gaped in awe at the sight.

"Next stop: The Digital World," said Tai.

But just before they could jump into the light, Mrs. Takaishi stepped forward with a call of her son's name.

TK gave his mother a sad look.

"I'm sorry we have to leave now that we're together again, Mom," he sighed.

"Don't go!" his mother stepped toward him, but Mr. Ishida cut her off.

"Let him go," he said, flicking the cigarette down and stepping on it to put it out. "We've made some selfish decisions of our own, remember? This could be more important than we realize."

Matt decided to enter the conversation too.

"The whole world is doomed if we don't do something about it, Mom," he said. "We're the only ones who can stop this. That's why we have to go back: to save you."

Tears began to stream down Mrs. Takaishi's face. As much as she didn't want her boys to go, she knew that Matt was right. She just had to believe that they would succeed. Despite her heart telling her not to, she stepped back to join her ex-husband, Jim, and the Izumis.

"Hard to believe that the fate of the world is in the hands of a bunch of kids," Jim remarked snidely. "I guess if the sun doesn't come up tomorrow, we'll know you guys failed."

His snide remark earned him a smack upside the head by Mrs. Izumi.

"Don't say things like that!" she admonished as he rubbed the spot where she hit him. "What your brother and his friends are doing is very brave! You must have faith in them."

"Whoa! Settle down, ma'am. I was only kidding!" Jim raised his hands defensively.

"It's okay. I knew he was kidding," Joe chuckled before putting on the most serious, heroic face he could. "Besides, I'm going to make darn sure the sun does come up tomorrow!"

Everyone laughed at his attempt to sound tough. Even after all this time, Joe would never stop trying to be cool, even though he really should. Suddenly, the light engulfed him. Joe let out a small shriek as he started to float up.

"All right, everyone. Let's go," Tai said as he and the others joined him. They too started to float up into the sky.

Before they could get far, another light surrounded them all, and when it faded, the kids found themselves wearing new clothes. Traditional Japanese yukatas colored in the same manner as the lights of their symbols replaced their current attire. Their symbols were also etched into the garments, as well as the obis that were tied around their waists. If they didn't look like Destined Jedi before, they did now.

"Awesome!" they breathed as they checked out their new yukatas before looking down below as the ground got further and further away.

"Matt, TK, look after each other!" Mrs. Takaishi called up to them.

"We will, Mom!" Matt shouted back. "Don't you worry!"

Sora stared glumly at the ground until a call of her name jilted her from her sad state.

"Sora! I love you, Sora! Please come home soon! I'll be here waiting for you."

The girl looked out and saw her mother looking up at the light. Tears of joy instantly filled her eyes seeing that her mother was okay now.

"Bye, Mom," she said softly, her voice getting choked up. She wiped her tears away before calling out, "Bye, Mom!"

Mimi and Izzy bid their parents goodbye, as did Tai and Kari.

"Be careful!" Mrs. Kamiya called after her two children.

"Don't worry!" Kari replied. "We'll be all right. We're the Destined Jedi!"

As they continued to ascend into the sky, the kids were not afraid of what they may find when they got back to the Digital World. Just knowing that their families loved them and supported them was enough to give them the strength and motivation they needed to succeed in their mission. No matter what happened next, they were confident that they were going to defeat whatever came their way.

* * *

 **What awaits the Destined Jedi next as they return to the Digital World? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Man, I was starting to get a little blurry-eyed there at the end. I guess listening to the score Little Secrets/Power of the Sun from Superman Returns didn't help much XD Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because I enjoyed writing it. With how their yukatas look, use your imagination. I figured that when they returned, they should look the part of being the Destined Jedi.**

 **Now comes the next and final arc. I cannot believe I'm saying that because it doesn't feel real to me right now. Thank you all for your support of the story so far and into the future. Be sure to leave a review and subscribe like always, even if it's just a simple "good job".**

 **Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and I will see you next week. I love you all.**


	37. Enter The Dark Masters

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yes, they are not done yet. We just may see about that in the future ;-)**

 **tommy tennyson: Sorry, but I don't think so. We're pretty far along by this point.**

 **Music Chick: Glad you think so. We just may see what happens with this going forward ;-) I've got plenty of good stuff planned for this arc that many of you will be surprised by some of it.**

* * *

 **Hope you all had a wonderful holiday because we are now going back to the Digital World. Wonder what the kids will find when they get there. There's also a major plot point being explored in the beginning, so hope you all enjoy that. Let's get this party started!**

* * *

It seemed as though all of Tokyo looked up at the sky at the exact same moment. If they weren't inside the town of Odaiba, they would have thought it was the most bizarre sight they had ever seen. Eight children floated into the sky inside of a column of light before disappearing.

Contrary to the general perception, Tokyo was not used to such strange occurrences happening all the time. It was fairly normal compared to most major cities in the world, but this was the first time it had dealt with something like this. The civilians just hoped and prayed that these children would succeed in order to save the world.

' _Fools,'_ A figure smirked to itself as it watched the humans through a large telescope. They were all fools to think that a group of children could defeat him, considering how well the last group of children did. He smirked as he remembered that time.

Stepping back from the telescope, the light revealed the figure's true appearance. From a glance, he looked like a simple circus clown with one half of his face white and the other half black, colorful wig and outfit, and playfulness of one. But beyond the seemingly harmless exterior laid a thirst for death and destruction that could never be sated.

This was Piedmon, one of four Dark Masters. If Pennywise and The Joker had a love child, he would be the result of that creation.

After Myotismon left for the real world, and without the Destined Jedi to maintain order, he and his three comrades moved in to take over the Digital World with almost no resistance. Any Digimon that rose up against them were quickly destroyed and soon made their home on Spiral Mountain to keep watch over everything. In a way, the Dark Masters considered themselves gods of the Digital World.

"Lord Piedmon," one of his comrades, a puppet-looking Digimon, said in a high-pitched, almost child-like, voice. "When are we going to engage the Destined Jedi? I'm getting bored here!"

Piedmon sighed. "Be patient, Lord Puppetmon," he replied, his voice sounding like Dr. Frank-N-Furter from the _Rocky Horror Picture Show._ "Good things come to those who wait. Remember the last time we had such annoying guests?"

"Yeah, but they were not half as annoying as these brats!" Puppetmon shot back. "And we did not hesitate to destroy them!"

A splash in a pool nearby caught their attention. A large sea serpent monster almost sixty feet long and covered in armor popped up from the depths of the pool to join in the conversation.

"Yes, but we only killed all but two of them," it said sadly, almost regretting that they had failed in killing all of them. "If you had waited for the right moment, Puppetmon, we would have destroyed them!"

"Don't put that on me, MetalSeadramon!" cried the puppet, pointing an accusatory finger. "Why do you always have to make such a loud entrance? Maybe that's why we failed to destroy them all!"

A large, machine monster sat quietly on the other side of the room as the two traded barbs back and forth. It was the size of a two-ton truck and very imposing with cannons on its back. It didn't seem to care about the argument going on.

"Oh yeah?" Puppetmon shot.

"Yeah!" said MetalSeadramon.

"ENOUGH!" Piedmon cried, their bickering driving him insane. He rubbed his temples to try and ease the headache that was starting to come on.

The hall fell quiet as his cry echoed across the walls. MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon looked on nervously, their bodies seized up with tension. The clown Digimon was unpredictable; one minute he would put on a pleasant demeanor, and then would destroy you the next.

But instead, Piedmon cleared his throat before he resumed talking.

"Thank you," he said. "Now, let's not fight amongst ourselves anymore because the Destined Jedi will be on Spiral Mountain soon enough. This time, we will not fail in destroying all of them." Piedmon's lips curled at the edges. "But first, let's give them the last great performance they will ever see."

* * *

As the Destined Jedi opened their eyes, they found themselves back in the jungle that they had started in when they first came. This time, though, the forest seemed much darker than it had before. All around them, the trees were thicker with less sunlight coming through the branches.

They brushed the dirt and grass off of their new yukatas before finally collecting their bearings. Now that they were back in the Digital World, they had to find out what had changed since they were last there in order to figure out how to deal with the new set of problems they were bound to encounter.

"Look up there!" Sora cried as she looked up at the sky.

The other Destined Jedi followed her gaze. They gasped upon seeing what she saw. At first, they thought their eyes were playing a trick on them, but after rubbing their eyes the sight did not go away.

"Is that…" Joe sounded too shocked for words. "Hokkaido?"

Sure enough, the northern island of Japan stared the children right in their faces from above. If they could see the Digital World from Earth, then it would seem as though the opposite would be true as well.

While the others continued to stare up at the sky in fascinated fixation, Joe felt a familiar presence nearby. The Jedi of Reliability made his way over to the tall grass that was near where the group had landed and searched through it for whatever he sensed.

He found nothing after checking almost every inch of the thicket, which boggled his mind. Whatever it was that had come by must have disappeared. With a shrug of his shoulders, he walked away from the grass.

"Joe!" a familiar voice cried happily, followed by the sensation of clawed flippers wrapping themselves around Joe's neck. The force behind the creature was so strong and sudden that it sent the Jedi tumbling to the ground.

Joe would have drawn his lightsaber by now, but as he reached down for it, he instead grabbed a clawed flipper that was perched against his side. He instantly turned over onto his back, knocking the creature off of him so that he could see who it was.

"Gomamon," he smiled, taking a deep breath before greeting the Digimon properly. "Don't do that again! You scared me half to death."

The seal Digimon huffed. "Well, excuse me for being so glad to see you. I was wondering when you lot would be back because we are in a lot of trouble right now."

"What kind of trouble?"

A rumble shot through the ground as cracks began to appear all around the earth near Joe. The ground instantly broke apart, splitting the grassy area into several floating islands. Joe grabbed the edge of the big one that the other Destined Jedi were floating on before hoisting himself up onto his elbows.

"That kind of trouble," Gomamon snickered.

"Ha ha! That's so funny I forgot to laugh! Mind giving me a hand here?" Joe grunted as he tried to pull himself completely up, but failing.

"Sorry, but I don't have any hands like you do."

Tai and Matt heard the commotion and came over to see what the problem was. The sight of Joe hanging by his elbows surprised them to say the least.

"Joe, what are you doing?" Matt said.

"Now's not the time to be fooling around, man," Tai glared at the boy.

"COULD SOMEONE PLEASE JUST HELP ME!" Joe roared, wanting nothing more than to be placed firmly back on solid ground at that moment. His legs kicked below him as he struggled to pull himself up again, but Matt and Tai got the message and helped him.

The two Jedi finally got a chance to see what had caused Joe to almost fall. Most of the pieces of ground that were floating had fallen into the abyss below, leaving them isolated onto the big piece that they were currently on. Tai didn't remember that being part of their first adventure in the Digital World. Maybe this was something that had changed while they were away.

"You thinking that this place has gotten weird too?" Matt asked Tai as he stared down into the abyss.

"You can say that again," the leader nodded.

"Hello! I'm still here," Gomamon snapped, hating that he was being ignored at the moment. He tapped a claw against the ground impatiently while the other flipper rested against his cheek.

Once everyone gathered around, Gomamon explained what had happened while they were away.

"Not long after you guys left, things started getting crazy," he said. "Everything went out of balance, creating a power vacuum that no one could fill up. Gennai instructed us Guardian Digimon to try and reclaim order to maintain balance in the Force, but…"

The kids didn't like the tone of his voice; it was fraught with fear, like even Gomamon didn't want to utter the words he was about to say.

"But what, Gomamon?" Tai pressed. "Tell us."

The Digimon swallowed the lump in his throat before answering, "But then _they_ came along."

The orange hairs of his mohawk stood further on end as he said it. Everyone could sense the tension and fear that flowed through him. Things definitely were not right.

"Who's ' _they',_ Gomamon?" Sora asked.

He shook his head. "No. I don't want to talk about it."

"Tell us. Please," Joe begged. "We can't help you if you don't tell us what we're up against here."

As much as he didn't want to, Gomamon knew that Joe was right. If the kids were going to have a fighting chance at saving both worlds, they needed to know the horror of what they were about to face.

"' _They'_ are four evil Digimon called the Dark Masters," he gravely said, sending a shiver down his spine. Joe could see goose bumps multiplying all over Gomamon's body. "They're the biggest, baddest, most evil Digimon to ever exist."

"Compared to Myotismon, how bad are they?" Tai asked, hoping to get a scale of these Dark Masters.

"Oh, they make him look like a Monzaemon compared to them," Gomamon replied. "The first time that a group of Destined Jedi arrived in the Digital World, they encountered the Dark Masters, and almost all of them were slaughtered. Out of five Destined Jedi, only two survived."

Everyone gasped in horror. If these Digimon were so evil as to kill human children, then they were definitely going to be much tougher than anything they had ever faced. For a moment, the Jedi wondered why they had decided to come back in the first place. They felt like lambs being led to slaughter.

"Everything happened so fast that we couldn't maintain peace anymore. Eventually, the Digital World was reconfigured into that mountain over there."

The Destined Jedi followed where Gomamon pointed his index claw. Their eyes widened at the monstrosity of a mountain that loomed over them. What looked like a mix of water, grass, and wood twisting around each other in a never-ending spiral went up into the sky until it stopped at the structure on top. It looked like an observatory.

"That's Spiral Mountain, and that is where you'll find what the Digital World is now."

"So everything is up there now," Matt muttered as he gazed up at the peak.

"Color me cynical, but nothing surprises me about this place anymore." Joe added.

"Gennai sent me to get you all up to speed. We'll try and help you as much as we can, but for now you're on your own. May the Force be with you all."

Before anyone could say anything back, Gomamon vanished before their eyes. An eerie quiet fell over the entire clearing as the Destined Jedi struggled to digest what they had just been told.

"I don't like this," said Mimi as her hands and knees began to shake. "If these Dark Masters are as evil as Gomamon told us, then I don't think we have a chance to win."

"Now don't tell me you're getting scared just because of what he told us," Tai growled. "You know how Gomamon loves to joke around, so maybe he's just pulling our legs."

"Or maybe he's not," said Matt. "We can't just go charging in like a bunch of cowboys and expect everything to go the way we want it to, Tai. Remember, they have the blood of three Destined Jedi on their hands. There's no reason to think they won't destroy us too."

"You're getting cold feet too, Matt?" Tai got into the blonde's face. "We can't run away from this. There are too many people counting on us now."

Izzy stepped in between them to break up the inevitable fight that was going to break out at some point.

"Both of you stop it," he chastised. "So long as the eight of us fight together, we have about as good of a chance to defeat them as we did Myotismon."

"You're right, Izzy," TK smiled with a thumb's up. "We can do it."

"Yeah!" Kari agreed. "We'll knock those big bullies down a peg or two!"

Spurred on by their youngest members' optimism, the Destined Jedi shed their fear and tried to look on the bright side of things.

That lasted for about two seconds as a cold laugh echoed across the landscape. The Jedi drew their lightsabers, ready to strike down whatever was coming. Something lurked under the ground. They couldn't see what it was and didn't know where whatever it was could be.

The ground rumbled as a sea serpent creature emerged with a burst of teal light. Judging by its appearance, the kids inferred that it was yet another extension of the Seadramon evolution due to the similar look it shared with Seadramon and MegaSeadramon. It was over sixty feet long and covered in armor.

"Destined Jedi," it said with a chuckle. "I am MetalSeadramon, and you have no idea how long I have waited for this chance to meet you. Prepare to meet your doom!"

With a flick of his tail, MetalSeadramon flew towards the children with the grace of a dragon. Out of his nose, a teal blast erupted towards the trees that the children had taken refuge behind. The blast sliced the trees like a hot knife through butter and sent them tumbling down.

The group didn't know what else to do other than run, so they did. Navigating their way through the forest with their enhanced Force speed, they just hoped that they could outrun MetalSeadramon for as long as possible.

"What do we do now, Tai?" Mimi screamed as they continued running.

"Run!" Tai shouted back as he pulled Kari by her hand.

Another blast from MetalSeadramon tore through the ground behind them. The earth split open, creating deep fissures that the group fell through towards the abyss below.

* * *

When the Destined Jedi came to, they were surprised to see that they weren't dead from the fall that they had just taken. They had fallen a long way down and should have been severely injured at the least, but all they felt were just normal bumps and bruises.

Tai and Matt inspected their younger siblings for any serious injuries, but the two youngest Jedi were perfectly fine.

Their sense of awareness was finally at a high enough level that they could register what was going on around them. A thick mist, almost too thick to see ten feet away, surrounded them. After the fog incident in Odaiba, the Destined Jedi didn't have a good feeling that this presented any good news either.

"Well, hopefully we don't run into MetalSeadramon again," said Sora, which everyone quickly agreed with.

"I don't know," Matt replied. "I think this isn't the last time we will see him again." He then got a strange feeling in his gut. He rotated his head left to right, like he was looking for something. "Do you guys feel that?"

"Feel what?" TK asked.

Suddenly, the sound of metal screeching against each other filled the air, followed by booming footsteps. The Destined Jedi drew their lightsabers out as the booming sound got closer and closer to them. Because of the mist, they couldn't see what it was, only heightening their terror further.

"Steady, you guys," Tai encouraged, hiding the fact that his voice was shaking as he said it. His knees began to quiver and his arm trembled as fear threatened to overpower him. Sweat dripped down his brow in buckets. Whatever this monster was, it sure sounded big.

The booms stopped.

For a second, no one was sure what happened as the air fell silent. Joe twisted his head left and right manically, swinging his lightsaber as he did so. The others were desperate to find what was hiding in the mist, but were afraid of what it would be. Maybe whatever it was that made the noise was passing through and had finally left. It was fool's gold for the Jedi to think that, and the nervous energy circulating around them only rose.

Twin blasts of energy came hurdling through the mist like a bat out of hell towards the Destined Jedi. The explosion of the blasts hitting the ground in front of them was deafening as they were blown back several feet. The source of the blasts soon emerged from the mist.

A cross between a dinosaur and Godzilla completely covered in metal, robotic and machine parts, the size of a two-ton truck, appeared before them. Their jaws dropped as they gazed up in awe at the cannons on its back, which looked powerful enough to blow away all of Tokyo with one shot.

With a roar that rivaled Godzilla's, the monster unleashed more energy shots from its cannons towards the Destined Jedi. This time, they were ready for them and spread out around the area to avoid the blasts as they hit the ground.

"Let's get him, guys!" Tai cried before charging towards the creature. The others soon followed.

The metal monster was not fazed seeing the children running towards it. Instead, it fired more shots from its cannons. Instead of just one from each, it fired multiple shots; one after another in rapid succession. The Jedi weaved in and out to avoid the blasts. After a few more steps, they felt the familiar sensation of the ground giving way before falling into a void once again.

"Why does this keep happening?" Joe screeched as they plummeted down into darkness.

"I don't know, but I'm getting really sick and tired of it." Sora agreed.

The Destined Jedi then found themselves suspended in mid-air. A strange sensation of being held by strings overcame their bodies. The next thing they knew, they were being twisted and pulled into some of the most impossible positions that the human body could not do by itself.

The group looked up as the sound of joyful laughter filled the air. They saw what looked like the main character from _Pinocchio_ in the flesh – or wood to be technical. The puppet wore a red hat and blue lederhosen that had a lightsaber attached to the waist. A crucifix boomerang lay perched on its back.

"Well, well, well," it sneered playfully at them, speaking in its child-like voice. "Listen here, Destined Jedi, I'm Puppetmon, and you are all about to become my new toys."

He then activated his lightsaber. The blade glowed a piercing red that highlighted the red of his eyes.

"So, let's have some fun!" he said as he jumped down to meet them.

For being made of wood, Puppetmon was surprisingly agile with a lightsaber. The Destined Jedi each took turns to try and slow him down, but he would dodge each of their strikes before attacking them with an elbow, a punch to the stomach, or a kick to the back of the knee. He moved so fast that they could not lock down his position to launch a counterattack. It was like trying to catch smoke with nothing but bare hands.

Puppetmon laughed joyfully, enjoying the whole experience as he finally decided he had enough fun with them for now. He would get his chance to do more later.

"Guess I have to let you all go now. I'll be in touch," he said before using the Force to cause the strings holding the Destined Jedi to disappear. They once again fell freely into the void below, wondering what else they would have to deal with next.

* * *

Tai tried to ease the bump on his head as he and the others once again felt the familiar sensation of hitting the ground. They were in what looked like an old Greek theater from ancient times with its marble columns and stone layout.

' _What could be next?'_ he wondered as glam rock music began to play over loudspeakers around them. Tai recognized it as the tune to a _Rocky Horror Show_ song.

From behind a column, a cross between Pennywise and The Joker stepped out into full view of the Jedi. Mimi screamed in horror at the sight of it.

"How do you do, Destined Jedi," the clown greeted pleasantly, a smirk playing on the corners of his lips as he spoke in rhythm with the music. "Enjoying the show are we? I see you've met my faithful accomplices. When we heard that you returned, we wanted to welcome you with a show. My name is Piedmon, and…"

Matt rolled his eyes before interrupting. "Let me guess, you're a sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania too?" he quipped.

Piedmon frowned slightly, but ignored the comment. The music stopped.

"I see you shiver with anticipation for what is to come," he chuckled. "And what is to come is the downfall of the Destined Jedi!"

He ignited two lightsabers from his waist as he transferred them to his hands. Tai and Matt were quick to reciprocate the action before engaging Piedmon. The blonde came in from the left while Tai came from the right to attack him at the same time, but the clown was ready for them. He sidestepped their horizontal strikes, causing the two of them to overbalance.

Keeping Matt and Tai at a distance, Piedmon parried and deflected each of their blows like a master fencer against two amateurs. He laughed joyfully with each deflection, thinking of this as more of a game than serious combat. The two Destined Jedi were surprised at just how good of a duelist Piedmon was.

The clown pressed both sabers against Tai's before using his cat-like reflexes to kick Matt in the chest as he tried to use his Force speed, sending the blonde into a column. Tai gritted his teeth to try and push back with all his strength, but Piedmon was too strong. As their sabers unlocked, the clown punched the boy in the face before using the Force to send him flying into the others.

Tai rubbed his jaw to make sure nothing was broken before getting back up. Just as he did, Matt was then thrown into him, sending the two of them back to the ground.

Piedmon laughed at them. "You weaklings think you can destroy me? My powers are far more superior to yours. It's useless to try and defeat me. Allow me to re-introduce my co-stars to you."

The other three Dark Masters then appeared from a hole that MetalSeadramon had created in the ground and joined Piedmon to float above the children. The Destined Jedi were beside themselves as they came face-to-face with the Digimon that they had encountered before.

"MetalSeadramon, Puppetmon, Machinedramon, and I, Piedmon, are the Dark Masters! Now, who wants to be destroyed first?" the clown smirked. "The last group of Destined Jedi we faced lasted about five minutes, I believe. Let's see how you do."

The Jedi stood frozen with fear, thinking that this was the end.

"Well, looks like you all volunteer," Piedmon cackled maniacally as the four Dark Masters zoned in for the kill. The Destined Jedi shut their eyes tight, waiting for their inevitable demise.

The sound of a lightsaber activating filled the air as a figure used the Force to push the Dark Masters back.

"Well, looks like you kids could use a hand."

* * *

 **Who has come to their rescue? Will the Destined Jedi be able to defeat the Dark Masters with this new arrival? Find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **See if you guys can guess who it is that has come to their rescue. I'll give you a shoutout in the next chapter if you get it right.**

 **Anyway, yes, I used Rocky Horror stuff to introduce Piedmon because his voice was meant to be a rip off of Dr. Frank-N-Furter from the movie and I thought it would be interesting to do. I also thought it was important to disclose their backstory because it will be important later on in the trilogy universe.**

 **Leave a review and subscribe as always because some dark shit is coming up in each of the next few chapters. You guys will not want to miss that ;-) Hope you all have a Happy New Year and I will see you guys next week.**


	38. Futile Escape

**Reviews**

 **Ackbarfan5556: You don't have to wait anymore now ;-) Go ahead and play that music to your heart's content.**

 **Music Chick: Who doesn't love a part with Gomamon in it? You'll find out in just a moment.**

 **Thank you to Malorn FairyTail for favoriting and following the story.**

* * *

 **Good day, all, and welcome to the next chapter of this story. Hope you all had a fantastic New Year and are planning on making 2019 the best year it can be. I certainly know that I am because not only am I going to be graduating college, going to Japan, going to grad school, but I will also be doing the sequel story to this one at some point this year.**

 **I also want to welcome 4fireking for helping me with the story. He has guest written several parts in this chapter and did a heck of a job with it.**

 **Anyway, let's get back to the story. Who is it that has come to save the children?**

* * *

The Destined Jedi gasped upon hearing the familiar voice. It had been a while since they last heard it, but it was music to their ears. They opened their eyes to see Gennai standing in front of them with a wide grin.

"Gennai!" they exclaimed.

"You kids run away from here," the old man instructed as the Dark Masters began to get up. "I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

"Let us help you," said Matt. "We can destroy them together."

"Yeah," TK agreed. "You shouldn't fight them all by yourself, Gennai. They're the toughest bad guys we've faced yet."

"No, you're not strong enough to destroy them," Gennai shook his head stubbornly. "I'm doing this to protect you. Get out of here!"

"Why can't you understand, Gennai? We want to help you." Tai growled as he took fistfuls of his hair in frustration.

The old man turned away from them to gaze at the four large Digimon staring him down. He knew that this was where it would end, but he was going to give the children the best chance at escaping as he could.

"Don't worry about me, my young friends," he said, not daring to look back. "This old dog has a few new tricks up his sleeve. Go! Now!"

As much as the group did not want to run and leave Gennai alone to face the Dark Masters, they trusted his judgment. After all, it was because of him that they learned about their destiny as the Destined Jedi, and he taught them everything that they needed to know to survive. They would be lost without him.

"Come on, gang! Let's go!" Tai ordered.

"But, Tai," Matt began to protest, but was quickly shot down by their leader.

"No time to argue with him, Matt."

The Destined Jedi ran for the nearest tunnel out of the theater. Once they were under the cover of shadows, they stopped at the far end to watch the duel.

With the children gone, Gennai held his saber defensively in a Soresu stance.

"Well, look who finally decided to reveal himself at long last," Piedmon chuckled as his twin red lightsabers activated. Puppetmon activated his lightsaber as well. "It has been a long time, Gennai."

"That it has, Piedmon," the old man returned as the two sides eyed each other in anticipation. "You will not get away from me this time."

The clown laughed heartily, like he had just been told the funniest joke in history. "The years have not been kind to you, old man. It is you who will not get away from us."

Rather than wait for an order to attack, MetalSeadramon went right for Gennai like a heat-seeking missile. Despite his old age, Gennai jumped high into the air to avoid the oncoming assault. MetalSeadramon's face collided with the ground, creating large skid marks in the dirt.

Gennai landed harmlessly on the sea serpent's long body and ran along it. He slashed his back along the way, earning loud cries from MetalSeadramon every time he did so. It had been a long time since he was in battle, but he felt twenty years younger than he was. It was like riding a bicycle.

Puppetmon stood at the end of MetalSeadramon's tail to meet Gennai head on. The two exchanged a few strikes before locking their sabers against each other. Gennai winked at the puppet with a mischievous grin, distracting him enough to kick him in the chest. As Puppetmon recuperated from the blow, Gennai used the Force to send him into a column.

The Destined Jedi watched in awe as they watched Gennai do all sorts of tricks and flips as the Dark Masters surrounded him to try and land an attack. They were surprised at how agile he was and how fluidly he moved from one attack to the next.

"Wow," Tai breathed.

"He's amazing," Matt nodded in agreement.

Machinedramon blasted two shots from the cannons on his back towards Gennai. The old man was quick to react, using the Force to halt them in mid-air before sending them right back. The machine Digimon roared in pain as the blasts hit him. The only Dark Master left standing was Piedmon.

The clown did not give Gennai a chance to rest as the two locked sabers right away. He was stronger between the two of them, but Gennai was as quick as a mouse and hard to catch. It only frustrated Piedmon further when his opponent would launch an attack and then back away.

"Stop running!" Piedmon roared as Gennai dodged an attack. "Your power has grown weaker, old man. Just surrender already."

Gennai chuckled. "Now why would I do that? I'm just getting started."

The two re-engaged. Piedmon struck with his right lightsaber while keeping his left one locked to his thigh so he could strike underneath. He was waiting for Gennai to do something other than blocking so he could strike underneath him. Gennai finally pushed back, his adrenaline rushing with the power of the Force, and Piedmon jabbed right for his torso.

Gennai leaped over the clown the moment Piedmon made his jab. Now he hovered above Piedmon until he used the Force to help him fall slowly back down.

Their battle encircled the entire coliseum in a blur of red and blue. Whenever Piedmon would gain the upper hand, Gennai found a way to escape before much damage could be done. They once again found their way to the floor of the arena, staring each other down.

Gennai panted in exhaustion after dodging Piedmon once again. He couldn't keep this up for much longer. He wasn't as young as he used to be, making this much harder on him than it would have.

"Face it, you're losing energy fast," Piedmon taunted, sneering evily at the old man. "You cannot keep this fight up any longer, Gennai. It's time that I did what I should have done a long time ago and destroy you."

Hidden in his sleeve were many knives, all serrated and lethally sharp. He deactivated his left lightsaber, a proud smirk on his callous face, before he let the knives fly in a quick throw.

Gennai could hardly see all the knives. He blocked three of them with three swings of his lightsaber, but a fourth one landed in his shoulder, splotching his shirt with digital blue code dwelling inside him.

"You never had much strength in both those arms; now you only have one to protect you," Piedmon laughed wickedly. "I can cleave you in half with your lightsaber locked in place. Any last words?"

Gennai looked back at the group of children watching the battle with nervous anticipation. A smile began to grace his features. He knew he couldn't win, that was obvious at this point, but if he could give the Destined Jedi a chance to escape, then they would live to continue the struggle against the Dark Masters in his place.

He centered himself in the Force, ready for what he was about to do next, before finally addressing Piedmon.

"You may destroy me now," he said. "But the cause I fight for will go on. So long as the Destined Jedi fight for the balance of the Digital World, I will never truly be gone."

Piedmon's sneer widened as he tightened his grip on his sabers.

"Then goodbye, Gennai!" Piedmon dashed towards Gennai with only his right lightsaber activated until his horrid breath touched the old man's beard. With one last evil laugh, he activated his left lightsaber and cut through Gennai. All that was left of him were his cloak and lightsaber.

The Destined Jedi screamed in horror. Mimi started to cry, as did TK and Kari, Joe looked like he had just seen a plane crash and burst into flames in front of him. The others stood completely in a daze, not wanting to believe what they just saw. Gennai was dead.

"NO! GENNAI!" Matt screamed, his body becoming numb as the Dark Masters set their sights on the children. Piedmon had picked up Gennai's saber and hooked it onto his waist.

"You want to be next? Well, that can be done," said the clown as all four Digimon darted for them.

The others began to run, but Matt stood permanently locked in place.

"Matt, come on!" Tai yelled. "We have to go!"

The boy didn't seem to hear him because he did not make any sort of movement. He had practically become a statue at this point. Tai ran quickly over to him, grabbing him around the torso.

"No! Let me go!" the blonde cried as Tai moved him away.

"Matt, it's too late!" Tai growled harshly. "There's nothing we can do right now. If we stay here, we're all dead! Come on!"

Reluctantly, Matt followed Tai's order as the two Jedi used their enhanced speed to catch back up to the others. The Dark Masters followed right behind them, only urging the Jedi to move faster.

Finally, Piedmon halted his comrades with a chop of his arm, ceasing their chase as their prey ran further into the desert.

"Why'd you stop?" Puppetmon complained, miffed that their chance to destroy the Jedi was ruined. "We could have destroyed them!"

"Good things come to those who wait, Puppetmon," Piedmon placated the puppet. "We'll just have to pick them off one at a time. Gentlemen, the time has come for you all to showcase your talents. MetalSeadramon, you're up first."

"Thank you, Lord Piedmon," the sea serpent nodded graciously before burrowing his way into the ground.

* * *

The Destined Jedi did not stop running until they were absolutely sure that the Dark Masters were not chasing them. Despite their heavy hearts, they pressed on and on until finally reaching a beach. The sight of the ocean and hearing the crashing of waves helped set them at ease only temporarily.

Everyone was heartbroken and distraught. TK and Mimi were dripping with tears while their eyelids trembled in fear. Mimi's hands shook, and TK's sheens were soaked with tears. It took Kari to help TK and Sora to help Mimi.

Mimi sobbed loudly into Sora's shoulder as the girl comforted her. Joe and Izzy gazed down at the sand with forlorn looks, while Matt looked out at the sea. Tears cascaded down his face, unable to believe that Gennai was dead. It felt like a piece of his heart had been ripped out, torn up, and spit out. They wouldn't have gotten this far without Gennai's help - the Force was his strength, and through all the prejudice of his age, he was still a great Jedi - now he was dead because a semi-white and black faced clown killed him.

Tai wiped away tears that were welling up in his eyes and checked on TK and Kari, asking if they were okay. They nodded silently before he patted them on their backs comfortingly. He then turned to look at Matt.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

The blonde-haired boy didn't turn to look Tai in the eyes. The only thing he could hear were sniffles coming from Matt.

"Matt?"

"I can't believe he's gone," Matt finally croaked out.

"There wasn't anything we could have done," Tai patted him on the shoulder. "Gennai did what he thought was right and that's that. We have to focus on destroying the Dark Masters."

Matt ignored him, continuing to stare out at the waves crashing onto the shore.

Tai could see that it was a waste of time trying to get through to him, so he went back to the others. Joe and Izzy seemed like they were slowly pulling themselves together, as was everyone else. Mimi had stopped crying by now, but still had tears in her eyes.

"What do we do now, Tai?" Sora asked, her heart heavy with sadness.

The brown-haired leader felt everyone's eyes gazing upon him expectantly. Without Gennai, they would have to figure things out for themselves so that they could defeat the Dark Masters. The weight of the world seemed to be pressing down on his shoulders.

Finally, he said, "I know we're all in rough shape, but we have to keep moving. Gennai wouldn't want us to be sitting here moping around while the world is in danger; he'd want us to be together and fight. He will not have died for nothing, I can promise you that. Let's get going."

"None of this should have happened!" Matt growled as everyone reluctantly picked themselves up. "Let's stop and rest for a bit. We all need more time to mourn."

"If we did that, the Dark Masters would find and kill us in no time," Tai shot back. "We need to find a safer place to hide."

"Not everyone has ice running through their veins like you do, Tai!" shouted Matt, getting into Tai's face. "In case you've forgotten, without Gennai, we would be nowhere! We certainly wouldn't be who we are now!"

"I haven't forgotten! I know that Gennai meant a lot to you Matt, but you heard what he said. He believes in us and believes that we can destroy the Dark Masters. He wouldn't want us to be sitting around like this."

"What do you know?"

"What do _you_ know?" Tai fired. "Gennai is dead, Matt. Deal with it! Now are you going to follow us or stay here and wait for the Dark Masters to come find you?"

The glare never left Matt's face as he and Tai eyed each other for several moments. The tension was so palpable that everyone nervously waited for something to happen.

Finally, the blonde's face eased and he reluctantly nodded.

"Fine," he relented. "You're the boss, Tai. Lead us on."

Tai smiled as he nodded back, happy that Matt saw things his way. Everyone soon began making their way down the shoreline to find a good hiding place where the Dark Masters would not find them.

Matt wished he never agreed to let Tai be the leader after hearing the way he ordered him around like that. He suppressed his anger as they walked since anger leads to the dark side, and falling into it would be a scathe on Gennai's name.

The eight Destined Jedi continued walking along the beach until they saw two converging islands that seemed to remind them how they were on their first steps to getting home again. This time, they knew what their mission was: Destroy the Dark Masters.

Izzy sensed it; a familiar life form deep in the water was coming towards them. His sense erupted with flaring energy as the gold snout serpentine Digimon, MetalSeadramon, appeared from the water. He was gigantic as islands with ocean water raining down from his scales.

"Everyone, quick! Use the Force to move something to camouflage yourself!" Izzy shouted, the desperation of saving them in his voice.

Tai and Matt looked like knights in bloody war when they raised their hands out. The change in their attitude changed how the Force connected with them. Kari, in all the excitement, stumbled to the ground. She was new to using her Jedi powers, so it tired her out very easily. Tai only glared at Matt over their not-so-neutral friendship and Gennai's death. The blonde returned the gesture.

Trees moved, rocks rolled towards the Jedi, and Mimi even made sure the grass patches under the trees were moving. Their efforts ended up being pointless because MetalSeadramon saw right through their hiding places.

"You won't escape from Lord Piedmon or me, Destined Jedi," he snickered wickedly.

MetalSeadramon took a breath in, and then breathed out. He raised his tail out of the water. Fused on his tail fin was a giant lightsaber blade rounded into the shape of a leaf. Without a second to waste, he dove right for the Jedi. This was where he finished them for good.

The kids ducked down as MetalSeadramon swiped his lightsaber blade across the hiding places they were behind. They were now completely exposed to the serpentine Digimon with nowhere else to run.

They all activated their lightsabers as MetalSeadramon made another pass.

"Here he comes!" Tai cried as they deflected away his lightsaber strikes. MetalSeadramon was relentless and launched a blast of teal energy from his snout. Aside from a few trees being sliced down, the Jedi were completely unharmed.

Knowing that they couldn't fight like this, they broke away towards the trees behind them. They hoped to force MetalSeadramon to choose whom he went after so that the other group could launch a counteroffensive.

"If you think splitting up is going to work against me, you're wrong," the sea serpent roared, his laughter echoing across the land. "It's useless to resist, Destined Jedi. The time has come for you to be destroyed!"

Energy began to charge up in his nose, his sights set directly on where he knew the children were hiding. But before he could release it, a sharp pain, like a shark grazing him, ripped through his tail. He grunted in pain as he looked underneath him to see the source of it.

Leomon had sunk his lightsaber into the serpent's tail as he held on desperately to his saber. He had sensed that the Destined Jedi had returned, so he came to help them in any way he could.

Although MetalSeadramon couldn't pry the lightsaber or Leomon off by thrashing his tail, he was still gifted with very sharp teeth the size of great white shark's. He was feeling ravenously hungry, even for a fuzzball like Leomon.

He swung his tail up over his head and leaped up, ready to have Leomon lynched off. The lion warrior was steadfast and used the Force to push MetalSeadramon down to the ground. The serpent hit the ground with a loud thud, sending dirt and sand into the air. Leomon landed softly on the sand.

"Leomon," MetalSeadramon hissed with contempt.

"MetalSeadramon," the lion returned with a growl.

The Destined Jedi snuck glances out from behind their hiding places to see what was going on. They had anticipated MetalSeadramon's attack, but it never came. They gasped excitedly to see Leomon after going so long without seeing him.

"Leomon!" Tai called.

The lion man glanced over at the group of children. He flashed them a smile and a nod.

"How's it going, kids?" he greeted. "Been a long time. Now, watch as I destroy this overgrown sea lizard."

Without another word, he and MetalSeadramon leapt into the air to meet each other head on. MetalSeadramon opened his mouth wide to try and snatch Leomon into his jaws, but the lion was quick and bounced off of his nose. The taste of blood filled MetalSeadramon's mouth as he bit his tongue, trying to find where Leomon was.

MetalSeadramon grinned as he felt footsteps on his back.

' _There you are.'_

With one buck of his rear end, the sea serpent sent Leomon flying down to the ground.

"Let's get in there, guys!" Tai cried as he and the others activated their lightsabers. They rushed out from the brush, giving loud war cries as they engaged the Dark Master of the Sea.

MetalSeadramon turned his attention away from Leomon and onto the group of children instead. With one swipe of his tail, he unleashed a powerful wind that threatened to blow the Destined Jedi away. The children held firm until the wind died down, but they were quick to realize that it was merely a distraction.

"Now I've got you!" MetalSeadramon snickered sadistically as he aimed the lightsaber blade on his tail right for Tai.

"Watch out, Tai!" Kari cried as the blade moved mere inches away from her brother's chest. There wasn't enough time for him to react to it.

Tai closed his eyes as he prepared for the inevitable. Someone then dashed in front of him and took the attack instead. A dying gasp rang out along the beach as the lightsaber plunged into the figure's chest. Everyone gasped.

Tai slowly lifted his eyelids to see who had taken the blow for him. A red lightsaber stared him directly in the face…right through Leomon's chest. He flinched in disbelief. He could feel his eyes burning red on the outlines from how the shock caused his eyes to widen.

"Next time, don't get in my way," MetalSeadramon hissed victoriously as he pulled his tail back, dislodging the saber from the lion's chest. Leomon fell back to the ground with a thud.

"LEOMON!" Mimi and TK screamed in horror, unable to bear the thought of losing another friend to the Dark Masters.

"With him out of the way now, it is time for you all to die!" MetalSeadramon growled as he once again darted for Tai, his jaws opened wide.

But Tai was ready for the attack. He sidestepped MetalSeadramon at the last second, causing the serpent to literally eat dirt. He spat it back out to have another go at Tai, but the boy was quick and dodged the attack.

This continued several times. The other Destined Jedi felt like they were watching a game of whack-a-mole the way that Tai would dodge and then come back in a different place. The leader eventually started teasing MetalSeadramon.

"Over here! Over here!" he cried in a singsong voice, blowing a raspberry at the sea serpent. "Bet you can't catch me!"

MetalSeadramon growled as his frustration grew. He was the lord of the sea, and yet here he was playing childish games. It was time to end this now. He kept his focus as he made another dash for Tai. Anticipating that he would dodge, MetalSeadramon had his tail ready to strike the Jedi if his primary attack didn't work.

The sound of lightsaber meeting flesh filled the air.

* * *

 **Whose attack landed? Find out on the next Destined Jedi.**

 **To make up for the fact I did not introduce Whamon in the story, I decided to speed up when Leomon would die due to not having Etemon (and MetalEtemon by extension) in the story. Anyways, two deaths in one chapter. How much sadder can this get?**

 **Be sure to leave a review and subscribe because things are about to take a turn for the worse for the Destined Jedi. Stay tuned, and I will see you guys next week.**


	39. Puppetmon's Deadly Game

**Reviews**

 **Ackbarfan5556: It's never easy to watch characters you care so much about die.**

 **Music Chick: I'm glad you think so. Etemon was definitely the weakest of the three main villains of the series, so he was kind of expendable to me.**

 **Emperor Serperior: Thank you for all of your thoughts and advice. Your wish is my command. Be prepared for what is coming in the next couple chapters. I'm sure you will enjoy it thoroughly. I'm waiting to make the second story in the trilogy especially dark because the second story in a trilogy is usually the darkest. Blame Empire Strikes Back for that becoming the norm XD**

 **Thanks to ncread for favoriting and Whiteling for following.**

 **I also want to thank 4fireking for guest writing some parts.**

* * *

 **And now, we find out who managed to kill who in the battle between Tai and MetalSeadramon. This chapter is a big, fat whopper for you guys after several short chapters, the longest I have ever done. Hope you enjoy it because we are getting into some serious subject matter.**

* * *

Tai only heard the sound of his own heartbeat ringing in his ears. Everything else had gone deathly silent.

His eyes bore deeply into those of MetalSeadramon as the two glared at each other without end. His hate for the Dark Master of the sea grew with each passing second. The moment when Piedmon killed Gennai replayed in his mind on a never-ending loop; the sadistic smile on the clown's face as he drove his saber through Gennai's chest, the way the old man vanished like the earth had swallowed him. It was too much for the young Destined Jedi to handle.

Tai gazed down at his arms. His eyes widened when he saw the blue blade of his lightsaber driven through the serpent's head. The lightsaber on MetalSeadramon's tail was mere inches from his chest, so close that he could feel the heat radiating off the blade.

A loud piercing roar filled the air as the sounds surrounding him finally registered with his ears: MetalSeadramon's body thrashed viciously as Tai sunk his lightsaber deeper into his head. The boy finally withdrew the blade.

MetalSeadramon flailed about: thrashing his tail against the water, sending up giant waves crashing onto the beach. His massive body grew weaker and weaker with each passing second until it crumpled when his head finally crashed under the water.

Tai panted heavily to catch his breath. Once his tiredness wore off, it finally hit him that he had killed one of the Dark Masters. He pumped his fist victoriously while unleashing a loud cry.

"That was for Leomon!" he roared at the corpse of MetalSeadramon.

He turned to the others, hoping that they were sharing in his excitement. They were all crowded around Leomon, who was slowly starting to disappear from below the waist on up. Tai was surprised for a second, but then remembered that Leomon had taken the hit that was meant for him.

"Leomon…" Mimi whimpered as tears began to cascade down her face. TK cried into Matt's shoulder, wetting the cloth of the boy's yukata.

Leomon coughed as his entire lower half dissolved into floating data before saying, "Destined Jedi, it has been an honor meeting you. It's up to you now to save us. Promise me that you will do everything in your power to save our world."

Tai restrained his tears as much as he could, but a few managed to escape. He wiped them away before nodding.

"We promise, Leomon," he sniffled. "Your death will not be for nothing."

Leomon smiled at him before his eyes closed for good. His head fell over onto his right side before he finally became data. The data flew up into the sky towards Spiral Mountain's peak, which confused the children for a second.

"Where's that data going, Izzy?" asked Joe as the same phenomenon began happening to MetalSeadramon too.

"I don't know," replied the computer genius. "Somewhere up on the mountain I guess."

"I can answer that question," a new voice entered the conversation. Everyone turned to see Tentomon had appeared. "They're going back to Primary Village to be reborn again."

"Reborn?!" the kids exclaimed.

"That's right," the bug Digimon nodded. "Whenever a Digimon dies or gets destroyed, their data gets sent back to Primary Village to be reconfigured into a different form."

The kids soaked in this new information with welcome relief. Even though they were sad to see Leomon die, knowing that he would be reborn again helped comfort them that they would most likely see him again. Did that also mean…

"Will Gennai be reborn too?" Matt asked with hopeful eyes.

Tentomon shook his head.

"Sadly, no," he replied. "Gennai is a different case compared to us Digimon. He was neither digital nor human, so it's a bit complicated to say the least."

Everyone sighed sadly.

A rumble began circulating through the ground yet again. For a moment, the group that something else was coming to take MetalSeadramon's place. But nothing appeared; instead the ocean began to disappear around Spiral Mountain until it reached the very bottom.

"Someone mind telling me what just happened?" Joe said, his eyes wide in shock at what had just happened.

A chuckle in his ear caught his attention. Whipping his head around to see what was leaning against him, the boy gave a startled scream as Gomamon pressed against his head.

"I told you never to do that!" he chastised the Digimon.

"I'm sorry," Gomamon wheezed as he clutched his sides from laughing so hard. "I'm sorry."

Once he got himself together, he explained that because the group had defeated MetalSeadramon, the master of the sea, the ocean was now free from his control. It would now be reconfigured into a different ocean than it was before. Tentomon then added that every time the group defeated a Dark Master, an element under their control would then be freed. It was all part of restoring the Digital World to its former state before the Dark Masters took over.

"We're counting on you guys to win," said Gomamon as he grinned a lopsided grin. "Don't mess up."

"You idiot! Now you've gone and put more pressure on them than they need!" Tentomon shrieked. "Our job is to help guide them so that they can succeed."

"Keep your wings on," Gomamon shot back. "It's about to get tougher from here on out. Good luck, you guys."

The two Digimon then disappeared, leaving the others at an impasse on what to do next. On the one hand, they were still distraught over Gennai and Leomon's deaths and needed time to mourn; but on the other, they knew that they needed to move fast in order to defeat the Dark Masters and free the Digital World from their control.

"So what are we waiting for then?" Tai exclaimed. "Let's get out there and destroy those Dark Masters! Who's with me?"

Everyone cried out in support.

"Wait!"

Well…almost everyone. Mimi and Matt stood a few feet away from the others. Three large mounds of sand sat erected on the ground as Mimi began putting crosses onto them. Matt watched silently as she put the last one on. The others realized what she was doing: building graves for their lost friends.

"What's all this?" Tai asked.

"In case you haven't noticed, some of our friends are gone, Tai!" Matt sniped bitterly while glaring at the leader.

"That one is to remember Wizardmon," Mimi explained as she pointed to the mound on the left. "The one on the right is for Gennai, and the one in the middle is for Leomon."

Sora bent down and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Didn't you hear what Tentomon and Gomamon said?" she asked. "Leomon's not dead. It's like he's been downloaded to a different computer. We'll see him again at some point, I'm sure."

"But Gennai is gone forever," Mimi sniffled as tears began to well up in her eyes. "There's no bringing him back."

Tai didn't have the patience to handle more of Mimi's impending blubbering at the moment. They had to keep moving, or else the other Dark Masters would find them and pick them off like the other Destined Jedi.

"What better reason do we have to destroy the Dark Masters?" he said. "Payback for making our friends disappear. Let's go!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" Mimi stubbornly replied. "I have had enough! Every time we fight, we end up losing another friend."

In a blind rage, Tai whipped her around and grabbed her by the collar of her yukata, pulling her within an inch of his face.

"This is war, Mimi," he growled lowly. "And sometimes people we like get hurt, so shut up and deal with it!"

"Stop it, Tai!" she shrieked, tears finally cascading down her face. He shoved her away from him. Sora caught her before she could hit the ground.

"That's enough!" Matt roared as he shoved Tai to the ground, sending a collective gasp through the group.

"Matt!" Joe yelled, surprised by his friend's sudden volatile action.

Tai got up and nearly punched Matt in the face. He was told a migraine was worse than a headache when he was young, it was dealing with something he didn't want to and then unleashing the pent up rage on someone he was close to. Tai managed to look down at the tombstones of friends now gone because some lunatic had something in their mind close to his rage.

Tai did, though, push the back of his hand against Matt's hand so he'd feel a little of what it felt like to be caught off guard and pushed.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Matt growled.

"You shoved me first!" Tai returned with venom.

"Well you're being a jerk right now, Tai! We've lost some good friends, so we should be able to stop and remember them once in a while!"

"If we stopped to do that, we wouldn't have time to save the world!"

The two of them were on the edge of the proverbial cliff as their arguing continued to get hotter and hotter. The rest of the group watched helplessly, knowing that there was nothing they could do to stop them.

"If Gennai were here…"

"Well, he's not, Matt! He's dead! When are you going to get that through your head?!"

Matt hit him. With one slug of his fist, he sent Tai tumbling to the ground. Matt didn't stop there; he leapt on top of him and started pummeling away. Tai yelped in pain each time Matt's fist made contact with his face.

Mimi started to cry, TK and Kari watched in shock as their brothers fought. Joe and Izzy tried to intervene, but Matt shoved the two of them away with a Force wave. Tai slipped his leg under Matt's and flipped them over so that he was on top. He started punching Matt in the face with even more power than the blonde did to him.

"Tai! Stop it!" Sora wrapped her arms around his torso and pulled him off. Tai only saw red as he continued swinging his arms at Matt. Everyone took a deep breath as the fighting ceased. TK and Joe helped pull Matt up from the ground.

The damage on both Tai and Matt's faces caused everyone to gasp in horror. An entire family of bruises doted Tai's cheeks and his left eye. Blood was splattered across his nose and oozing down his face, nearly getting into his mouth.

Matt looked like he went ten rounds with Mike Tyson. There was a small cut on his upper lip, which had swelled to the size of a slug from Tai's punches. His right eye was black and blue with a giant bruise, as were his cheeks. Like Tai, his nose oozed blood from both nostrils like a river. He spat out a tooth that had been dislodged from a punch.

"This is crazy!" Sora scolded the two of them. "You two are supposed to be friends! Friends don't fight one another like this."

"I'm simply saying what we are all thinking, Sora," Matt shot back. "Tai needs to understand that he can't get his way every time. We've lost a lot of great friends who have fought alongside us."

"I know you're still broken up about Gennai dying, Matt, but he believed in us and believed in our commitment to finish the mission," said Tai. "He wouldn't want us to sit here and cry over the fact he's dead."

"Tai, that's enough!" Sora glared at him. If looks could kill, both boys would certainly be dead at this point. "Now is not the time to be fighting amongst ourselves. We need to stay together if we are to defeat the Dark Masters. That means the both of you need to stop fighting. Is that understood?!"

The two boys glared at each other for a moment. Finally, they reluctantly nodded their heads slowly, ashamed at Sora harshly calling them out.

"Good," the girl sighed with exasperation. "Now that we got that across, let's find somewhere that we can hide out for a day to get ourselves together."

"How about we go to Gennai's house?" Joe suggested. "It'd be safer because it's under the lake and undetectable. The Dark Masters won't sense us while we're there."

Izzy, TK, and Kari all nodded in agreement. Mimi finally stopped crying enough to also nod her head. The majority had voiced their opinion.

"It's settled then," Sora straightened out the obi around her yukata. "Let's go to Gennai's house."

As the group walked away from the beach, they had the strange feeling that they were being watched. Sure enough, the remaining Dark Masters had watched the destruction of MetalSeadramon and were surprised at how strong the children were.

"These brats are stronger than we anticipated," Piedmon murmured to himself as the camera settled on Matt and Tai. He grinned as he toyed with the additional lightsaber on his waist. "But not all is well with them. Puppetmon!"

"Yes, Lord Piedmon?" the puppet stepped forward.

"The Destined Jedi are heading towards your territory. Go there and wait until they show themselves again," Piedmon ordered. "Now is the time to strike while the iron is still hot between them. If we can turn them on each other, it will make destroying them much easier."

Puppetmon bowed in understanding before answering, "Yes, Lord Piedmon. I know just the thing that will do that." He then made his way from Spiral Mountain, thinking of all the ways that he was going to have fun with the Destined Jedi.

* * *

The next day, the Destined Jedi walked through the forest with renewed purpose after having a nice rest at Gennai's house. The house felt cold and empty without Gennai there, compared to when the group had stayed there during their training, but it was still a safe place for them to go.

As they walked along, none of the kids said a word. Their thoughts filled their heads as they walked on and on. The fight between Matt and Tai was still on everyone's mind. Was this a sign they were starting to fall apart? Was the stress of the situation finally getting to them?

' _I'm not as cold as Matt thinks, am I?'_ Tai asked himself. _'I mean, we have to save the world and all, but what if he's right?'_

At the front of the group, Matt also questioned his actions from the previous day after having a good night's rest to put it into perspective. Maybe he was a little harsh on Tai, but he had to take their feelings into consideration. Not everything revolved around him.

TK watched his brother the whole time they walked. Never before had the young boy seen his brother behave the way he did the day before. His eyes glanced from the scabbing cut on his brother's lip to the bruises that were still there. TK could sense a storm cloud hovering over Matt's head, which concerned him greatly.

At the back, Kari decided to break the silence and talk to her brother.

"You okay?" she asked.

Tai didn't bother answering her. He kept his eyes focused straight ahead as he continued to walk.

Suddenly, Kari sensed a presence nearby, along with a voice that spoke in a hoarse whisper. It seemed to be reaching out to her. She stopped walking to look around the forest for the source of it.

' _Strange. I could have sworn…"_

"Kari!" her brother's voice interrupted her train of thought. "Don't stop. We need to keep moving."

Kari ran to catch up with the others.

"Sorry," she bowed her head apologetically. "I thought I heard a voice a second ago, but I guess it was my imagination."

"It's dangerous to be out here alone," Tai chastised her. "Stay with the group."

"Tai, relax. It was an honest mistake," Kari shot back. "It won't happen again. I promise."

"Well see that it doesn't."

The group continued their trek in silence. Kari could not get her mind off of what she thought she'd heard. The voice was as clear as day, so why couldn't she find anything?

Without warning, the ground began to move under the Destined Jedi. Like an automated walkway in an airport, it carried them through at a fast pace. The trees rolled by at the speed of sound.

"What's happening?" Joe cried, unsettled by this turn of events.

"Obviously, the ground is moving right under us," Izzy replied. He was just as surprised by this as the older Destined Jedi was.

"Jane, stop this crazy thing!" Tai yelled, which would have earned a laugh from the others if they were not so scared by this.

Like adjusting the speed of a treadmill, the ground went even faster. Quickly, the group jumped off of the speeding patch of grass onto a non-moving side. Before they could exhale in relief, it too started moving.

"Whoever is doing this wants us somewhere in a hurry," Sora observed. Judging by how fast they were going, it was a reasonable explanation.

"Why do I get the feeling that someone is not too friendly?" Matt added.

"Quick, everyone!" Tai cried. "I've got a plan."

* * *

Puppetmon held his sides from all the laughing that he was doing. This was too much fun for him to digest all at once. The Destined Jedi did not suspect it at all, and their reactions were just too priceless.

"I've never had this much fun in a long time," he gasped between laughs. He pounded the ground with his fist. "I wonder what I'll do next."

When he looked at the monitor, showing the forest outside from multiple angles, he was surprised to see that the Destined Jedi had vanished from view. His laughter halted. Quickly, he picked up the nearby remote to look from different angles to find the group. The puppet's annoyance grew each time that he failed to locate them.

"They think they can play games with the almighty Puppetmon, do they?" he muttered. "Well, I'll show them what fun really is. Where are those dolls?"

He turned to face a toy chest on the far corner of the room before rummaging through it, tossing out everything inside until he found what he was looking for. Eight miniature versions of the Destined Jedi, all carved down to the last detail, emerged from the chest.

With an evil gleam in his eye, Puppetmon snickered.

"Now the real fun begins."

* * *

The reason that none of Puppetmon's cameras could find the Destined Jedi was because they were in an area that could not be seen.

They were hiding up in the branches of a tall tree.

Tai sighed in relief, thankful to be off of the moving forest ground. Everyone else echoed that sentiment by giving thankful exhales of their own.

"That was too freaky," he said. "Who is it that's doing this?"

Sora was quick with her reply.

"I think one of the Dark Masters is behind this," she said. "There can really be no other explanation."

Joe clutched the trunk of the tree tightly. He never was good at climbing trees, and thus was afraid he would fall at any moment.

"I say that we either keep going or build something stable that will hold us," his voice shook as he looked down at the forest ground below.

Tai scoffed in response. "I say that we find whoever is doing this and destroy them."

Matt couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Oh, come on," he bit. "Again with the fighting? Go to a neutral corner already."

"What do you suggest then, Matt?" Tai shot back, his agitation growing with each passing second. "Diplomacy? I'm sure the Dark Masters will really respond well to that."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Stop it, Matt!" TK couldn't take the fighting one second longer. "Please stop arguing."

Tai started to feel funny. He had no idea Puppetmon was fiddling with his voodoo doll somewhere else. A split second later, he vanished from the branch that he was sitting on. The others gasped in shock.

"Where did Tai go?" Kari asked.

A second later, Mimi disappeared. Everyone else soon followed until only TK and Matt were left in the tree. They prepared to disappear just like the others did, but it never came.

"Looks like it's over," Matt exhaled in relief.

"But now we're separated from everyone else," TK nervously said.

"Don't worry, TK," Matt held his brother close. "We'll be all right without the others, especially Tai. I'll protect you no matter what."

TK, however, moved away from Matt. He was tired of being treated like he was a helpless little kid, and he was going to let Matt know about it.

"I don't need you to protect me, Matt," he replied. "In case you haven't noticed, I can take care of myself just fine. I've been fighting alongside you guys this whole time and I've always held my own. Heck, I killed Devimon."

Matt stared at TK in shock as the boy continued. His little brother truly was growing up.

"All of us have played an important part in our success, including Tai. We have to work together in order to defeat these Dark Masters and go home. None of us can do this alone."

Matt stammered for several seconds before replying, "That wasn't what I was going to say."

"Then what?"

Matt tried to come up with some kind of response that would sound good to the boy, but he couldn't come up with anything. With a defeated sigh, he turned away from TK. Ever since they came back to the Digital World, it seemed as though he was pushing away those closest to him.

' _If only Gennai were still here.'_

* * *

Puppetmon giggled with delight as all the pieces on the forest mat were in place. His playtime was about to begin.

"I wonder who I should go for first," he snickered as he loaded a small metal ball into a slingshot. As he pulled back, his eyes darted across the mat to see who he should fire it at. They settled on the Joe doll.

"Let the fun begin!" Puppetmon cackled as he let the ball sail right towards the doll. It bounced off its stomach before falling over.

* * *

Joe screamed loudly as an unbearable pain, almost like fire, erupted in his belly. His legs gave out as he tumbled to the ground. He clutched his stomach as he writhed in agony. Tears fell from his eyes due to how much it hurt.

"Joe!" Kari cried, running over to check on him. Joe pounded the ground with his fist as the pain continued to stab him like a knife in his stomach.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," he coughed out, breathing sharply through his clenched teeth. "Something hit me in the stomach. It hurts so bad!"

Kari looked around the clearing for something she could use to help ease Joe's condition, but found nothing. If only her brother was here.

"Something wrong, Kari?"

Kari looked behind her to see Gatomon standing there. She gave a look that was begging for help. She wasn't looking at her for guidance, she was sure she could help him, but in case Joe's condition worsened, she needed her fast legs to help Joe.

"Gatomon, try to find Tai," the girl requested as Joe continued to roll on the ground in agony. "Someone needs to help pull Joe out of here and he's the strongest."

"I'm your Digimon guardian. The person who needs to be safe is you." Gatomon replied, shaking her head sadly.

Before Kari could reply, Joe suddenly disappeared right before her eyes. A split second later, the person she had wanted to find appeared. Tai turned to face her, but she was then whisked away.

This incident was not limited to just Kari and Joe; all the other Destined Jedi experienced this odd phenomenon. One minute they would be in one place, and then the next they would be transported somewhere else. It was like they were chess pieces being controlled by some mysterious force.

After shuffling around for what felt like hours, things finally settled down. Matt and TK were out of the tree and in a clearing far away from the others. Matt wasn't too concerned about where the others were right now, TK's safety was his highest priority.

Far away from the scene, Puppetmon was having the time of his life. Never before had he had this much fun. Not even the last group of Destined Jedi that he and the others encountered were this fun. But now it was time to make his move on them.

And he knew just who to target first as his eyes settled on TK.

* * *

"Are you okay, TK?" Matt asked as he checked the boy over.

TK nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Though it felt like something was tickling me and I couldn't stop laughing. I think something's wrong with me."

"Are you sure you're not hurt?"

TK frowned with annoyance. "Would you stop worrying about me?" he snapped. "I told you that I could take care of myself just fine."

"Okay, jeez," Matt backed away defensively with his hands up. "Take it easy, kid."

A voice called out in a singsong way from deep within the forest. The two blonde-haired brothers instantly activated their lightsabers, ready for whatever was coming their way. They could sense it getting closer.

"Hey, TK! Where are you hiding?"

"Don't worry. I'll keep you safe," Matt said as he pulled the younger boy close. The two raised their lightsabers defensively.

"Time to play!" the voice called again, sounding closer than before.

The two rotated their heads from side to side, searching for the source of the voice. The anticipation was killing them not knowing what was coming their way. The fact it didn't come out and reveal itself was not helping to ease their nervous anticipation.

Suddenly, a pair of hands wrapped around TK's head, covering his eyes. With a mischievous chuckle, the owner of the hands revealed itself to be Puppetmon. A slight smirk played on the edges of Puppetmon's lips as he eyed his prey with hungry eyes.

"Time to play!" he growled.

Matt pointed his lightsaber at the puppet threateningly.

"Keep your hands off my brother, Puppetmon, or I'll chop you into firewood!" he ordered, the end of his green blade mere inches from the Dark Master's chest.

Puppetmon regarded the blade in front of him like it was a pesky termite. He never took his gaze off of TK. Nothing was going to stand in the way of his playtime.

"What's with all the hostility?" the puppet replied innocently. "I'm just trying to have some fun. What do you say, TK, want to have some fun with me?"

The boy stepped out from behind Matt, curious as to what the puppet meant.

"Like pretend?" he asked.

Puppetmon nodded. "Sure, something like that. At least in the beginning it will be pretend anyway. After that, I'll destroy you for good because where's the fun in killing you now?"

TK wasn't sure how to respond. On the one hand, getting a chance to have some fun was appealing, even if it was with someone like Puppetmon. He was getting mixed messages when he tried to probe the puppet's thoughts. He seemed sincere, but knew that he was also serious about destroying him.

"Don't do it, TK," Matt clasped a hand on his shoulder. "He's just trying to scare you. Don't listen to him."

"Don't lie to him!" Puppetmon roared as he threw a ball of yarn at the older blonde. Once the yarn made contact, it wrapped itself around Matt until he was completely immobilized. His lightsaber fell out of his hand and rolled a few inches away from him as he fell to the ground.

Matt tried to break free, but the ropes were made with strong material that was resistant to Force users. He couldn't muster enough energy to shed his bonds.

"Matt!" TK cried. He moved towards him to try and cut him free, but Puppetmon cut off his path.

"Shall we get going now?" the puppet asked.

TK shook his head. "No way! I'm not going anywhere with you."

Puppetmon's eyes narrowed in anger until an idea came to his mind. His face lifted into an almost nonchalant look until his eyes settled on Matt.

"You won't?" he whined. "That's too bad. Without you, it would be no fun." He activated his lightsaber and settled it merely inches from the back of Matt's neck executioner-style. "Maybe I'll just destroy your brother instead."

Matt's eyes widened as he felt the heat of the lightsaber blade almost touching his neck. He thrashed around within his bonds, but nothing he did caused them to bend in the slightest. If he was going to die, at least TK would be safe from Puppetmon.

"No!" TK stretched his hand out to stop Puppetmon as he raised his lightsaber over his head. "I'll go with you. Just leave my brother alone."

"That's a good boy," Puppetmon smiled victoriously. He loved it when things always went his way. "I knew you would fall in line."

"TK, it's a trap!" Matt cried. "Don't listen to him! Run away while you can!"

"Shut up!" Puppetmon snapped before releasing another ball of yarn, this time around Matt's mouth. He then returned to the boy. "I'm so glad you could join me, TK. We'll have lots of fun."

Matt gave muffled cries to stop them, but it was useless as TK wandered off into the forest with Puppetmon.

* * *

"Now you hide, and I'll seek and destroy," Puppetmon said before TK ran up a flight of stairs to get away. The Dark Master had taken him to his house in the middle of the forest, far away from the others. If he was going to get out of this alive, he had to be quick and trust his instincts.

TK turned down hallways and ran up stairs with no knowledge of where he was going. All he knew was that he wanted to hide from Puppetmon for as long as possible until he could figure out a plan.

He ducked into the nearest room that he could find. Even though it was dark, TK noticed that he wasn't alone. A mushroom Digimon and one that looked like a sunflower were in the room as well.

"Oh, hi," TK greeted. Before they could say anything back, he said, "See ya," as he ran behind a group of shelves nearby.

"I'm hiding back here, so don't say anything, okay?"

The two Digimon nodded in understanding just as Puppetmon appeared at the door.

"You guys didn't happen to see a little kid running back here, did ya?" the puppet asked. "He's wearing a green hat and a yellow robe. Did someone like that come around?"

TK peaked around the corner, hoping that the two Digimon wouldn't give away his location. Just in case, he quietly snuck around the shelves. Keeping himself in the shadows, he made his way to hide behind one of the open doors.

"No, boss," said the sunflower Digimon. "Haven't seen anything like that."

"All we saw was a kid with a yellow robe and a green hat," the mushroom added. "He's hiding behind the shelves."

Puppetmon pushed past them with an angered growl. This was a waste of his time. A smirk began to play on his lips as he scanned across the shelves, sensing that TK was close by.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he called in a singsong voice. From out of the corner of his eye, Puppetmon could see TK moving out from behind the open door. As quick as a whip, he turned to draw his lightsaber and threw it towards the door.

"Gotcha!" he cried.

TK was just as quick and ducked to avoid the lightsaber slash just as it went through the wood of the door. Before Puppetmon could use the Force to call the blade back, he made a run for it.

The next room he went into was almost like a playroom. There were toys scattered on the floor, with a place mat right in the middle of the room. It had a drawing of a forest and several figures were lined up on it.

TK didn't have time to notice what they looked like as he continued running through the room. He turned back for a second after realizing that he had stepped on something. Looking down at it, he saw that what he stepped on was a remote.

' _What's it for?'_ he wondered as he picked it up to examine it.

* * *

"Here we go again!" Tai cried as he and Sora were carted away on the moving ground once again. This time, it wasn't moving as fast as it had before and soon they found themselves in the middle of a clearing.

Looking around, he was surprised to see all of the other Destined Jedi in the clearing. Joe and Kari were together once again, while Mimi and Izzy were sitting on a branch of the tree they had all been on just a short while ago.

"Hey, you guys!" Joe cried ecstatically as everyone got reacquainted. Tai embraced Kari in a relieved hug, thankful that she was okay.

A muffled yell caught their attention. The group gasped when they saw Matt bound and gagged on the ground nearby. Tai didn't waste any time, using his lightsaber to cut his friend free of his bonds and cutting the gag off his mouth.

Matt's first words were, "TK! TK was taken prisoner by Puppetmon!"

"Oh no!" Kari cried as an unsettled mood weighed down on the group. It was sad to hear one of their younger members had been taken. They needed to do something now.

"Where did he take him, Matt?" Tai demanded.

"I don't know!" Matt wailed. He buried his face in his elbows as tears began to streak down his cheeks. "For all I know, he must be doing something horrible to him right now!"

Tai couldn't hear this any longer and pulled Matt up.

"Get ahold of yourself!" he roared as he slapped the blonde across the face. The slap seemed to calm Matt down slightly, but the blonde kept glaring at their leader.

"I don't think they could have gone far, Matt," said Izzy, hoping to diffuse any tension that would start to sprout. "That main road we were on should lead us directly to Puppetmon. My feelings tell me that he should be nearby."

"Then let's go get them!" Tai nodded, but as the group began to move, they were cut off by what looked like an ostrich. Its body was brown and its legs were long, there weren't any wings on its sides, and the top of its head looked like a mask that ended in a pointed beak as sharp as a sword. A wreath of leaves wrapped around its neck.

"No one may interrupt Lord Puppetmon's playtime," it said. "You are staying right here."

"And what are you?" Tai demanded as the group activated their lightsabers.

The creature snickered. "You may call me Kiwimon. The time has come for you all to be destroyed, Destined Jedi. Pummel Peck!"

Kiwimon opened its mouth and sent small, miniature versions of its head flying out towards the group. They quickly used the Force to send the attack in separate directions. The miniature heads exploded upon hitting trees, leaving the Jedi completely unharmed.

Matt found all of this a waste of time. TK was out there somewhere, and he needed to know where Puppetmon was keeping him.

"Where are you keeping TK?" he demanded in the most fierce voice he could. Kiwimon simply laughed at his attempt at intimidation, causing Matt to become even more furious.

"GODDAMN IT! ANSWER ME!" he roared as he lifted his hand to try and Force choke the bird. Tai grabbed his hand and lowered it before anything could happen.

"I know how you feel, Matt," he cajoled. "But first, we need to take care of this flightless featherhead."

Matt glared knives into Tai. The brown-haired leader could almost see the fire reflecting in his eyes, which caused him to step back half a step.

"How can you possibly understand how I feel?" Matt growled, his voice going to a deeper register than it ever had before as he grabbed Tai by the front of his yukata.

"I know that if we don't beat him first, we won't find TK," Tai returned the favor, grabbing Matt by his yukata. Their foreheads nearly touched as their faces inched closer to each other.

"No! First we find TK, then we fight your war!"

Matt shoved Tai out of the way and raised his hand to choke Kiwimon…but nothing happened. Looking down at his arm, Matt could see that his symbol was not glowing. No amount of concentration he put into it was enough to trigger any reaction.

"What's happening? Why won't it glow?" he cried, feeling completely helpless. Was he losing his bond with his saber crystal? Is that why this was happening? He didn't know what to do, and that scared him more than anything.

Kiwimon chuckled at Matt's plight before unleashing another round of his Pummel Peck attack.

* * *

TK finally figured out why all this was happening. Puppetmon had used the remote to mess with the forest, and the dolls to mess with them. It all finally started to make sense as to why they were constantly moving around from one location to another. Puppetmon was behind all of it.

With this new information, he carefully moved the dolls into his backpack so that he didn't accidentally do something to anyone else. He ripped up the place mat into several tiny pieces and then used his lightsaber to destroy the remote.

"Looks like he won't be bothering us anymore," the boy smiled victoriously.

Before he could turn to leave, the door burst open and in walked Puppetmon, lightsaber drawn and ready to destroy.

"There you are!" the puppet greeted pleasantly, almost like the seeker in hide-and-seek finding the one they were supposed to find. "I found you. Now begins the real life part of the game."

Once he got a look at what TK had been doing, the puppet was shocked at the remote being completely destroyed.

"You think you can disrupt my fun?" he growled, eyeing the boy with the intent to kill. "Well, how's about I skip right to the part where I destroy you?"

In a flash, he darted towards TK. The boy managed to raise his saber and block the attack just in the nick of time. The two traded strikes for several moments until they locked sabers, their faces mere inches from each other.

Now that he was closer, TK could sense that Puppetmon was not the sharpest tool in the shed. He could easily outsmart him in a battle of wits. If he could convince Puppetmon to leave him alone for a few seconds, then he would be free to leave and meet up with the others.

TK broke their saber lock.

"This is boring," he feigned boredom with a fake yawn. "I'm not having any fun."

Puppetmon was horrified to hear this. All along, he was having a great time, but to hear that the boy wasn't was a blow to the Dark Master.

"What? Boring?" he replied in shock. "How can I be boring?"

TK smirked as he had Puppetmon right where he wanted him. The puppet took the bait hook, line, and sinker. Now he was going right for the throat.

"You just play the same game over and over again," he added. "Boring!"

Puppetmon shook as he progressively got angrier and angrier with the boy. No one called him boring and got away with it. Who was to say that this little squirt would be any different? He raised his saber, preparing to throw it at TK.

But his anger disappeared, replaced with sadness instead. Truth be told, Puppetmon was a lonely soul. Aside from his fellow Dark Masters, he never had any friends or someone to play with. Everything he did was to make up for the fact he felt lonely and wanted a friend.

"I'm not boring," he whimpered.

"If that's true, why do you not have any real friends?" TK piled on.

"I've got friends!"

"Then how come I haven't met any of them?"

"I'll introduce you right away!"

Puppetmon then sped out of the room, finally leaving TK alone. The boy quickly took his chance to get away before Puppetmon came back. He didn't look back as he stormed out of the house and back into the forest.

A nearby explosion caught his ears.

' _That must be where the others are,'_ he thought as he took off towards the sound of the explosion.

* * *

Once the smoke cleared, the Destined Jedi were dismayed to see that Kiwimon had disappeared. The attack was simply a distraction.

Matt was livid at this turn of events, and he directed his anger at one person in particular.

"Damn it, Tai!" he growled as he grabbed Tai by his yukata again. "Why did you let Kiwimon escape? Now we'll never know where TK is being held!"

"Back off, Matt!" Tai pushed Matt off of him. "We'll find him. I promise, but you need to relax."

"HOW CAN I RELAX WHEN MY BROTHER IS OUT THERE ALL BY HIMSELF?!"

"Hey, everybody!" a cry from the tree line ceased their arguing. TK came running out of the brush, a big smile plastered on his face. Everyone gave a big sigh of relief to see that the boy was okay.

Matt was there in a second.

"TK!" he joyfully exclaimed as he embraced the boy. Tears streamed down his face from how happy he was to see his brother was okay. He held him for several more seconds before TK managed to wiggle free.

The other Destined Jedi swarmed him with pats on the head, back, and fist bumps, telling him how awesome it was that he managed to escape Puppetmon on his own.

Even though he should have been happy for TK, Matt couldn't help but feel depressed. TK didn't need him to free himself from Puppetmon's clutches. If TK didn't need him, then what was his purpose in being a Destined Jedi? Matt never felt more unsure of himself than in that moment.

He needed to get away from everyone and discover what his purpose was in the grand scheme of things. So, he walked away from the group. He walked deep into the forest before anyone could notice, promising he would be back once he found his place in the Digital World.

TK laid out the dolls that Puppetmon had used to "play" with the Destined Jedi, explaining what they were being used for. While the other kids checked out their miniature versions, TK looked around for Matt.

"Anyone see where Matt went?" he asked.

"He should be right there," said Joe, only to find the spot he was pointing at empty. He looked around the area, but came up with no luck. "That's funny. He was there a second ago."

With a roll of his eyes, he added, "Here we go again."

Sora glared at Tai before unexpectedly smacking him upside the head.

"Ow!" the boy complained. "What the heck, Sora?"

"This was all your fault!" she snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "If you and Matt hadn't been fighting, he wouldn't have vanished!"

"Oh, so it's my fault that Matt has been acting like a complete basket case today?" Tai shot back. "I can't play psychiatrist to everyone like you can, Sora!"

"You're our leader! You're the one who makes sure that this group stays together!"

"Guys, that's enough!" Joe shouted, the sound echoing throughout the forest as everyone went deathly silent. The bespectacled boy cleared his throat before he resumed speaking. "Thank you. Now, we can't just sit around and argue amongst ourselves. Let's get moving. We need to find Matt before Puppetmon does."

"He's right," Izzy agreed. "In order to destroy the rest of the Dark Masters, the eight of us need to be together. Gennai would have wanted it that way."

Tai looked around at everyone; they were all waiting for his command whether or not they should go. Even though he was upset with Matt at the moment, he knew that he couldn't just abandon him to be hunted by not only Puppetmon, but the other Dark Masters as well.

He smiled once he made his decision. "What are we waiting for? Let's go find Matt."

* * *

Puppetmon was shocked at all the damage that had been caused in the playroom. All of his precious possessions were scattered around the room, and his remote lay completely destroyed. TK had tricked him.

"Just wait until I get my hands on you," he grumbled as he threw the damaged technology into the television screen, sending sharp pieces of glass scattering to the floor as it shattered. "Next time, I will not hesitate to destroy you all."

* * *

 **Will Puppetmon take his revenge? Where is Matt going? Find out on the next episode of 'The Destined Jedi.'**

 **Woooo! I am bushed from this chapter. So much happened that I have a bit of a headache from putting it all down XD Nevertheless, I am happy with how this chapter turned out. So much angst and darkness, as well as shifts in the group dynamic. Hope you guys stay tuned for what is going to be happening next. It's only about to get worse from here.**

 **As always, be sure to leave a review and subscribe to the story. Would you guys be willing to do me a favor? Let's try and get to 100 reviews before next chapter. I'll reveal some more tidbits from Attack of the Emperor, and possibly something from Revenge of the Infected (the third story in the trilogy) as well if we do. We'll see ;-)**

 **I love all the support you guys have shown me over the past almost year. Geez, I cannot believe I have been at this story for almost a year now. See you guys next week at the same time as always ;-) Have a great week.**


	40. The Forest of Delusion

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: I don't think you want to know the answer to that question.**

 **4fireking: You bet. Thanks for being a great partner.**

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* * *

 **Here we are again. Got nothing much to say except strap yourselves in for this one. It's going to be a wild ride. With this chapter, I have broken the 200k word barrier! I seem to break new records every single time I update this story XD Hope you guys enjoy it ;-)**

* * *

Matt slowly felt a thought begin to creep into his mind as he aimlessly wandered deep into the forest.

Where was he going?

He didn't have any places that he could go to for solitude and get his thoughts straight while in the Digital World. If this were back at home, he probably would have just run up to the rooftop of his and his father's apartment building or a spot under the Yume-no-ohashi Bridge to skip stones into the bay. But he wasn't at home; he was in the Digital World.

Matt heaved in air to provide oxygen to his lungs as he stopped to rest. He didn't know how far he had gone from the others, nor did he care. All that mattered to him was getting as far away as he could. The other Destined Jedi couldn't help him figure things out.

' _None of them would understand,'_ he thought, wiping the sweat off of his brow with the back of his hand. _'They don't know what I am going through right now. Tai doesn't get it, Sora doesn't get it, Joe, Izzy, all of them don't understand. I have to figure this out for myself.'_

He was a statue of impotence and emasculating spirit the longer he propped himself against a tree. He couldn't be any more surprised how his little brother, who couldn't be left alone without crying, escaped a Mega Level Dark Lord.

All he could do was move his lightsaber around in its metallic pike form. He imagined himself taking the lead, overshadowing Tai, and cutting down Puppetmon and the other Dark Masters singlehandedly in sought-after revenge for what Piedmon did to Gennai - looking like TK's hero of a brother even more.

His mind flashed back to the moment Gennai had died. The old man didn't even try to stop the attack from Piedmon as it came, almost like he allowed for it to happen. Once the saber plunged into Gennai's chest, he disappeared with hardly anything left, like he was never there in the first place.

Matt felt tears start to stream down his cheeks. There was still so much he needed to know, and Gennai had promised to help him. Now he was gone, and Matt would never get the chance to know more about the Force. He had hoped to learn how to use the Juyo lightsaber technique once he proved himself worthy of learning it in Gennai's eyes. He wanted to be the most powerful Destined Jedi who ever lived if it meant TK would think of him as the coolest big brother ever.

The sun was beginning to set down on the top of the thick trees above, letting Matt know that sundown was going to be coming in just a little while. He needed to find somewhere that he could take shelter at.

For a moment, he looked back from where he had ran, almost like he sensed something following him. If it was one of the Destined Jedi, or the entire group, he didn't want to stick around for them to find him. He needed to be alone for a while. Without another glance, he continued running as deep into the forest as he possibly could.

Little did he suspect that the presence he thought he sensed was watching from high above the trees.

Puppetmon sat high up in a tall cherry tree, a malevolent grin on his face as he watched the blonde-haired Destined Jedi run further and further into the forest. Everything was going according to plan for the Dark Master.

"Lookie what we have here," Puppetmon said, completely ardent in killing Matt. "We have one of those kids all alone. He'll make up for that other one escaping."

Before he could leap down to the ground to pursue the Jedi, a voice halted him.

"Hold on there, Lord Puppetmon," it said, so softly that it could have been whispering in his ear. "You who is strong with the Force should see that he's wavering with the light side."

The Dark Master looked down at the source of the voice. It was the tree itself. Sure enough, as he stopped to feel the Jedi's emotions, Matt was slowly fading away from the light and fear began to creep into his mind. Confusion, sadness, and grief all clouded the boy's judgment.

"You're right, Cherrymon," he said to the tree. "This kid is drowning in helplessness. If we can ' _help'_ him, then he will be doing our dirty work for us in no time."

"I agree completely," Cherrymon replied. "You take care of the other Destined Jedi, while I take care of this sad sack right here. He'll be so turned around that he won't know which way is up when I'm through with him."

* * *

"Matt?"

"Matt, where are you?"

The Destined Jedi had been calling the blonde-haired boy's name nonstop for the past two hours, and there still was no trace of him anywhere. None of them could even sense his Force energy. It was almost like Matt had dropped off the face of the earth.

"Where could he be?" Sora wondered. "It's so unlike Matt to just leave without telling us where he was going. I hope nothing happened to him."

"Like what?" TK asked, though he had a good understanding of what she might say.

"Eh, don't worry about him," Tai shrugged carelessly. "Matt's a big boy. He can handle himself."

Sora did not take too kindly to that remark.

"If you hadn't been so hard on him, none of this would have happened, Tai," she bit with a glare.

Tai groaned. "It's not my fault that he's so sensitive."

"You need to learn to have more compassion."

"Compassion is not going to keep the Dark Masters from killing us, Sora!"

While the two of them continued back and forth, the others tried to figure out a reason why Matt would leave. Joe was the only one to see the blonde walk away. Thinking that Matt was just going to relieve himself in the bushes, he thought nothing of it. How could he have been so stupid?

"I really don't think that it was because of Tai that Matt left," Joe said to the others. "Not the only reason at least. I remember the look on his face: so much was bothering him."

"But why would he just leave without telling us?" TK begged, tears welling up in his eyes. He missed his brother and didn't want to believe that he would just abandon them.

Joe gave him a soft smile as he ruffled the boy's head. "I'm not sure, TK, but we'll find him. I promise."

"Matt has been acting weird lately," said Mimi. "I remember when he tried to use the Force against the bird we encountered, but it wouldn't work. I think there's a connection between the two."

"You may be right, Mimi," Izzy nodded. "Something has been eating at Matt since Gennai was killed. I haven't been able to figure out what it is."

"I'm starting to get the feeling that maybe Matt doesn't want to be found," Joe sighed. As much as he didn't want to consider it, it was starting to become a real possibility. Matt ran away from them. "Like he doesn't want to be one of us anymore."

The three other Jedi gasped, shocked beyond words at Joe's suggestion.

A few yards away from the group, Kari turned at the sound of a voice calling to her. It sounded like the same one she had heard earlier when they were walking. Looking around the forest, she saw nothing unusual.

' _Where is that voice coming from?'_ she wondered as she continued to scan the foliage for any sign of the source of the voice. Her Force abilities were still raw and undeveloped, not allowing her to try and sense what it could be.

" _Destined Jedi,"_ the voice said again, almost like it was whispering in Kari's ear.

"Who are you?" she called. "Come out and show yourself! I won't hurt you."

Tai and Sora ceased their arguing. Everyone else turned around to stare at the younger girl.

"Who are you talking to, Kari?" Tai asked as he came over to her.

"I heard a voice just now," she replied. "Didn't you guys hear it too?"

Her brother shook his head. "No. Don't you start losing it too, Kari. We only have room for one insane person on this team, and we need to find him as soon as possible. Matt is not going to be the one who tears us apart. He's coming back whether he wants to or not."

"But where do we start looking?" Sora shot him a glare. "He could be anywhere in this forest by now. With Puppetmon on the loose, we can't risk him running into Matt."

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

The Destined Jedi turned to the nearest tree as a high-pitched cackle filled the air. Puppetmon sat perched at the top of the tree, sneering down at them with his red eyes. The time had come to put his plan in motion.

"Puppetmon!" Tai's eyes narrowed, activating his lightsaber along with the others. "What have you done with Matt?"

"Don't worry. I haven't done anything to your stupid little friend," the puppet dismissed with a wave of his hand. His eyes then settled on TK. "Hey there, TK. Did you miss me?"

"No way!" the boy shook his head defiantly. "I'm not playing with you anymore!"

"That's fine. You weren't that fun anyway," Puppetmon shot back before looking behind him. "Oi! Front and center, everyone!"

From out of the foliage came three pink blobs inside of trashcans. The covers were used as shields while the Digimon carried bazooka-like guns made of tin cans. Banana peels covered the tops of their heads. The Destined Jedi could smell their stench from a few feet away. Mimi covered her nose instantly, feeling as though she was going to be sick from the very sight of them.

Puppetmon reveled in laughter while the Destined Jedi's eyes burned, their noses on fire from the reek of the Digimon.

"Garbagemon, attack!" he ordered.

The trashcan Digimon didn't hesitate to leap forward with their bazookas pointing out, ready to strike the closest members to them: Joe, Tai, and TK. Tai made sure TK was behind him before his blade came out and sliced through the belly of one of the Garbagemon.

Joe heroically jumped up and swung his blade through another clueless Garbagemon's head. Although he fell down hard as if he was walking on a driveway of frozen ice, he blocked a quick blast from the last Garbagemon before taking a deep breath and digitizing it in three strikes.

With the three Garbagemon defeated, the Destined Jedi turned their sights on Puppetmon once more.

"Come down here and fight us, Puppetmon!" Tai ordered. "There's nowhere else for you to run!"

Despite how fast they took care of the garbage Digimon, the Dark Master did not seem worried about his situation.

"You think that's it?" he laughed. "I never leave home with just one group of minions. Go get them, boys!"

From out of the ground, a group of ten more Garbagemon appeared. Once again, the rotten smell of garbage flooded the Destined Jedi's noses, this time double what they faced last time. They quickly forced a hand to their faces to keep the stench at bay.

"Fall back!" Tai cried as he and most of the group turned away to run.

Mimi was the only one to stay put. It didn't matter how disgusting the Garbagemon were, she was tired of running away from a fight.

"I have had it!" she growled as one of the Garbagemon fired its bazooka at her. A small pink blob flew from it, heading for the girl with the speed of a missile. Raising her hand, Mimi stopped it in mid-air before pushing it back towards them.

Sora was by her side in a second, grabbing the girl's arm.

"Mimi, come on!" she urged, pulling her away to catch up with the others.

"You're right. What was I thinking?" Mimi shuddered as the two ran.

* * *

Matt finally stopped running once he saw the tree line give way to a large, clear lake in the middle of the forest. Even though his yukata was airy enough to keep him cool, he felt stuffy and hot. Sweat dotted his forehead and dripped down the back of his neck. He made a quick dash for the lake to get a drink.

The taste was like a fresh mountain spring once the water touched Matt's lips. Using two hands to scoop the water, he drank down in several gulps until his thirst was quenched.

His eyes stayed on the water to gaze at the reflection that looked back at him. Matt felt disgusted with himself that he had been unable to change for the better since he came to the Digital World. TK had grown up before his eyes the whole time, becoming wiser than his eight years would suggest because of all they had to go through together.

' _He doesn't need me to look after him anymore,'_ Matt sighed as he sat down in a lotus position on the bank of the lake. _'I need him.'_

All this time, Matt believed that his purpose was to protect TK and keep harm from coming to him. He had failed once when he didn't come back to get TK at the amusement park like he promised. If Tai hadn't shown up in time to help him, then who knows what could have happened. He promised never to do that again. But after TK escaped Puppetmon on his own, while he sat there and cried like a lost kid, it made him rethink things. Maybe TK would be better off without him around. Maybe they all would.

His thoughts then turned to Gennai. Matt knew that there was more to the Force that he refused to teach them. Unlike the others, Matt wanted to know more so that he could expand his knowledge and become more powerful. If becoming the strongest Destined Jedi alive meant TK would see him in a whole new light, then it didn't matter what Matt had to go through. The Juyo technique had always piqued his interest since Gennai mentioned it. He wanted to learn it, but since Gennai was dead, that wouldn't happen.

" _Gennai is dead, Matt! Get over it!"_ Tai's words echoed in his mind. _"He can't help us anymore!"_

Matt's arms shook like he had suffered from shellshock. He clutched the side of his head, hoping to block out all the voices that were threatening to split his head apart. Just as it became too much for him, the voices in his head stopped, and Matt realized that he wasn't alone.

"Greetings, Destined Jedi," a soft, warm voice said, followed by the sound of roots shooting through the ground like knives.

Matt found himself staring up at a great cherry tree. The branches were arms, with one of them carrying a long branch that looked like a cane alongside it. A large hole was cut in the middle of the tree trunk for a mouth, while two smaller slits above it were its eyes, which glowed yellow. Just above the mouth was a collection of moss that passed as a moustache.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Name's Cherrymon," the tree answered. "Everything okay? You look a little down in the dumps if I must say. Want to talk about it?"

Matt glared with annoyance.

"What's it to you?" he snapped. "If I wanted to talk, it wouldn't be to a tree. I'm out of here."

As he stood to walk away, Cherrymon stuck out one of his arms to block the boy's path. The Jedi was not going to get away that easily. Not until he took care of business.

"What gives, man?" Matt protested.

"Didn't anyone tell you that you should listen to your elders?" Cherrymon began in a smooth voice, sounding like an old grandfather figure. "I can sense the Force flowing through you. It's the most powerful stream of energy that I have ever felt in a being. Tell me, what is a Destined Jedi like you doing out here all by yourself?"

A part of Matt told him to be weary about the tree's intentions, but for some reason he felt he could trust Cherrymon. He decided to open up about his troubles.

Matt explained to the tree what had happened since their adventures began. He told him about finding the eighth Destined Jedi, defeating Myotismon, and now returning to the Digital World to fight the Dark Masters. He almost broke down in tears as he talked about Gennai dying and the fallout from all of that, but held himself together.

"And that's why I've decided to run away from the group and strike out on my own," Matt said as he finished his tale. "None of them can help me with what I am going through."

Cherrymon did his best to keep the smirk that threatened to cross his lips suppressed as he listened.

' _This is going to be too easy.'_

"You know where I used to come from? I was the weakest when I hatched in a grove of woodland Digimon," said Cherrymon. "You know why I was picked as the weakest? I was too soft, always letting the other Digimon push me around, sit on me until I fought back, and eventually I evolved into this big Ultimate before you. You know why?"

"Why?" Matt responded carelessly.

"Because I refused to be defined by what others thought of me. By embracing the dark side of the Force, I became more powerful and now no one dares to mess with me. Sometimes, you have to make hard decisions in order to get the change you so desire."

The tree gauged Matt's reaction to see whether his words got through to him. The boy stood in deep thought, unsure of how to respond to Cherrymon's moment of honesty. Finally, after a few seconds, Matt scoffed with a roll of his eyes.

"That's all fine and well for you, but you don't know the first thing about me. I would never betray my friends."

Cherrymon cackled loudly. The sound of his laughter was like thunder across the lake.

"Friendship. What a cute concept," he gasped as he recovered from his laughing fit. "From what you've told me, it doesn't sound like these so-called friends of yours have much respect for you. If they did, you wouldn't be here right now, would ya? You don't even believe in such a thing either. I can show you the way to true power, Matt."

"And why should I take advice from a tree?" Matt bit, not believing that Cherrymon could help him at all with that.

"Because this tree knows what's in your heart of hearts, Matt," Cherrymon replied seamlessly. "I can sense all of the confusion storming within you. You want to become more powerful, but you're afraid of the consequences that may follow. Don't be afraid of power. Embrace it. With all the power you desire, the other Destined Jedi will respect you and look to you for guidance. Your little brother will think you are the coolest guy to ever live and depend on you once again. Isn't that what you want most, Matt? I can help you, but first you must eliminate the one standing in your way."

Matt soaked the tree's words in like a sponge. As much as he did not want to admit it, everything Cherrymon said was correct. If he became the most powerful Destined Jedi, then he would overshadow Tai and be the one everyone looked up to. Maybe he could finally learn the Juyo technique that Gennai refused to teach him.

With a deep breath, he made his choice. He had told himself he wouldn't embrace the dark side's teachings in Gennai's memory, but maybe this is what the old man would have wanted.

"All right," he nodded. "What must I do?"

Cherrymon smirked victoriously to himself. The plan was now ready to go, just as he knew it would be. He pointed towards the lake.

"First, you must look into the Lake of Truth and see the face of the one who is standing in your way."

Matt snorted in laughter. It sounded too ridiculous to be taken seriously. What did Cherrymon think this was, a fairy tale or something where stuff like this happens a lot? Nevertheless, he did it anyway to please the tree.

As he looked down at the water, all he could see was his own reflection. He rolled his eyes.

"All I see is my own reflection," he said impatiently, wanting to turn away but Cherrymon did not let that happen.

"Look harder," said the tree.

With a groan, Matt concentrated on the water like he was studying for a test. After a few seconds, small ripples were made as a face other than his own began to appear in the water below. When he saw who it was, he gasped in shock.

"Behold, the face of your rival," said Cherrymon.

"Tai?!"

Staring back at him was a vision of the brown-haired leader of the Destined Jedi with almost a mocking expression. Matt was reminded just how heavy Tai's shadow loomed over him. It was like no matter where he turned, Tai was there laughing in his face.

"So you're saying I have to destroy Tai?" he muttered. A great burst of laughter escaped Matt's throat. This was all too good to be true. "You really had me going there, foliage face, but you'll have to do better than that. Thanks for listening to my problems, but I think I'd better go."

"You're not getting off that easily, Matt," Cherrymon chuckled. "The lake only reflects what's in a person's heart. I don't need the Force to know that. It's never wrong."

"Well, it's wrong this time," Matt shook his head defiantly. "This is ridiculous. I mean, Tai can be an inconsiderate jerk sometimes, yeah, but that doesn't mean I want to destroy him."

"You're only arguing with yourself at this point, Matt. I see what's in your heart of hearts. You feel cheated by everyone close to you because while they had it relatively easy, you didn't have it so good growing up. Your parents' divorce made you more weary of people and not one to trust so easily."

Cherrymon could see that his words were starting to affect the boy. He wasn't as combative as he was a second ago, instead he was quiet. Matt stared up at the tree like a student listening to a teacher's lecture.

"Tai didn't care about the fact that Gennai was dead," Cherrymon continued. "He told you to suck it up and move on without a chance to properly mourn. Since he's the leader, you just do what he says without question, even though you know that you are just as capable of leading the team as he is. Don't bother to deny it, Matt. Your thoughts betray you. Do you know why Gennai never wanted to teach you Juyo?"

Matt was still recovering from the verbal assault he had just received. It was hard having all of this being thrown back in his face like a prisoner in a stockade being pelted with tomatoes. He was unable to retort. His words had failed him.

Finally, he whimpered, "I wish I knew. I know there were things about the Force that Gennai did not tell us."

Cherrymon smirked wickedly. This was his chance to clinch the win, so to speak.

"It's because he was afraid of what you would become if you learned it," he said. "He held you back. But I know you are much greater than that, Matt. Since he didn't want to teach it to you, I will do that. But first, you must defeat Tai. Don't bottle up your resentment of him, Matt, let it roam free. It is within your anger that your true inner strength lies; unleash your hatred as you finally put your demons to rest. Accept the dark side of the Force and you will become stronger than you ever thought possible. It's all in front of you, Matt. You just need to take it."

Matt could only stare at the vision of Tai. His mind traced all the way back to the beginning; their fight by the lake on their first night in the Digital World, Tai defeating him in the sparring bout at Gennai's house, all the way up to their fight yesterday. Their exchange echoed in his head.

" _You're being a jerk right now, Tai! We've lost some good friends, so we should be able to stop and remember them once in a while!"_

" _If we stopped to do that, we wouldn't have time to save the world!"_

" _If Gennai were here…"_

" _Well, he's not, Matt! He's dead!"_

" _Not everyone has ice running through their veins like you do, Tai!"_

Tears finally fell from Matt's eyes. He wasn't sure what to do at this point. If he fully embraced the dark side, he would be going against what Gennai taught him. Not to mention he would be betraying his friends as well. He felt turned upside down and shaken that he couldn't make a straight decision. It felt like everything was a lie.

"What do I do?" he wept. "What do I do?"

Matt felt a twig touch the underside of his chin before lifting his head up to face Cherrymon, who gave him a sympathetic look.

"I can make all the hurt and pain go away, Matt," he said softly, like a comforting parent. "All you have to do is destroy Tai and everything will happen the way you want it to. Trust in yourself."

With those words, Matt was left with no other choice but to confront Tai and the others. He wasn't doing it because a tree Digimon told him to, but because he wanted to. His left hand was on his lightsaber and his feet were about to rush with the dark ecstasy of the Force flowing through him.

He moved, remembering all the vile and all the encouragement his friends gave him. A part of him was wondering if his spirit was a thousand times stronger now or if it was the anger.

Whether Matt was looking for adventure or a fight against someone he didn't like amongst his friends, Cherrymon's manipulation was instilled in his head and he practically danced to act on it.

"I'll do it," he finally nodded. A thrill surged through him, like a shock to his system. As the words sunk in, a malevolent smile began to play on his lips. This must have been what it felt like to give in to the darkness.

Cherrymon cackled loudly again. "Splendid! Once you have destroyed Tai and taken control, I will teach you Juyo, Matt. Now go! Do not hesitate and show him no mercy, for you will receive none."

Without another word, Matt stood to his feet with a renewed confidence. His icy blue eyes looked even colder than before. The smile on his lips never left the whole time as he ran back into the forest in search of the others. With the dark side coursing through him, he quickly caught a whiff of their Force energy and headed in that direction.

' _Ready or not, Tai, here I come.'_

Cherrymon watched in complete joy as the blonde disappeared amongst the foliage and trees of the forest. His plan was working perfectly. Soon, the Destined Jedi will be at war with each other, enabling Puppetmon to destroy them.

"So, how'd it go?" a familiar, child-like voice called from a nearby tree. Puppetmon hopped down from the branch he was perched on.

"It went brilliantly, Lord Puppetmon," said Cherrymon. "You should have seen it. I played the sucker like a violin. Soon, that kid and their leader will be locked in a fight to the death. With the both of them destroyed, then the rest will be easy pickings."

Puppetmon was ready to burst with anticipation. This was the moment he had been waiting for.

"This I gotta see!" he excitedly cried. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Cherrymon stopped him with a halt as he began to head back to the clearing where he left the Destined Jedi to fight the Garbagemon.

"Wait a minute, Lord Puppetmon. We should be careful with the Destined Jedi. They are stronger than I anticipated and to underestimate them would be disastrous."

Puppetmon did not take too kindly to this advice. It sounded like Cherrymon was saying that he would lose to them in the end.

"Are you saying I might lose?" he shot, raising an eyebrow with suspicion.

Cherrymon sensed that he may have angered the marionette, so he knew he had to choose his next words carefully.

"I'm only saying that you should take them seriously. There's something about them that I think you need to be careful about."

"Like what?" Puppetmon's tone got darker. His hand grasped around his lightsaber, like he was prepared to attack at any moment.

"I-I didn't mean it like that, Lord Puppetmon," Cherrymon nervously replied, not liking what he was sensing from his master. "What I meant to say was…"

"Enough! I have everything I need to handle those brats!"

Without warning, Puppetmon's lightsaber shot out of its pike as he twirled through the air right towards the cherry tree. Before Cherrymon could do anything, Puppetmon plunged his lightsaber right into the tree's trunk. He then started slashing off all of his branches and roots until Cherrymon finally became digitized.

"Man, I hate people that bring me down," Puppetmon sighed with annoyance before tarrying off to watch the show he knew was about to happen.

* * *

"Come out, come out, wherever you are." The Garbagemon called as they scanned the area in search of the Destined Jedi. The children were nearby, they could feel it.

Behind a group of trees, Tai and the others did their best to keep quiet so the Garbagemon couldn't find them. Joe and Izzy hid behind one tree, Mimi and Sora were behind another. Tai held TK and Kari close to keep them quiet, despite the two of them shaking with fear.

"Tai, I'm scared," Kari whimpered.

Her brother squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. "It's okay. I'm right here. I won't let anything happen to you guys." He glanced over at the other Destined Jedi. "You guys have any ideas?"

All of them shook their heads.

From out of the blue, a lightsaber activation pierced the air, followed by the sound of two slashes connecting with flesh.

"Get him!" one of the Garbagemon cried as they fired their bazookas at the intruding figure. One by one, they all began to fall to the lightsaber.

The group peeked out from behind the trees to see who had come to their rescue. To their pleasant surprise, it was Matt. He finally decided to come back. They watched in amazement as he cut down the last few remaining Garbagemon. He was faster and more ferocious in his strikes than he had been before. Maybe he left just so he could become stronger with his saber skills.

Once the last Garbagemon had been disposed of when Matt plunged his lightsaber into its chest, the Destined Jedi finally felt safe to step out from their hiding places to greet their friend.

"Matt, you're back!" Sora cried happily.

"About time," Tai added. "Where have you been, buddy?"

If they had been paying attention, the group would have noticed that Matt was glaring right at Tai the whole time. Without warning, he used the Force to push Tai up against a tree trunk and held him there. The other Destined Jedi gasped in shock.

"Matt, what are you doing?!" Tai cried, finding it difficult to move because of the forces pushing against him.

Matt didn't answer. He glided leisurely towards him, keeping his hand raised as his icy blue gaze seemed to get even colder the closer he got to Tai. The corners of his mouth began to slowly curl in a sadistic smirk.

"Matt, what's going on here?" Sora demanded, not understanding why Matt was doing this. A chill went down her arms. The dark side of the Force surrounded Matt.

"Matt, stop it!" Tai groaned out as the gravity pressed harder against him.

Matt snickered darkly. "No, Tai," he hissed. The right part of his mouth curled up so much that it exposed the teeth on that side. "I won't."

Tai was stunned by his response. "What did you say? You won't?"

For several tense seconds, no one knew what was going to happen. Tai and Matt simply stared at each other.

What was only staring was fueled by anger of the other's differences and Matt's short temper. Tai, also on the short temper side, was pushed so far that he had to take action. He broke the Force hold on him to charge towards Matt, sticking out his lightsaber to cut the blonde's in half if he needed to.

Matt swung his lightsaber in an arch before it hit Tai's.

"What are you doing?" Tai glared, demanding an explanation.

"What does it look like?" Matt shot back. "This is a challenge to fight. I want to show you my new power. You will know what the true power of the dark side is when I'm through with you, Tai."

He wiggled his fingers as he pushed forward to send Tai a few steps back. They both raised their lightsabers up high as sparks flew when they collided.

* * *

 **Will Matt succeed at destroying the Destined Jedi from within? Find out on the next episode of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **I must say, that was probably one of my finest moments of this whole story. Once I got on a roll with this chapter, I would have to physically restrain myself from continuing after a while because I was so looking forward to doing this chapter. I'm even more excited about the next one because the fight truly begins. For some reason, I could just see Matt slowly start to sneer at Tai rather than glaring when he said he wouldn't call off MetalGarurumon in the show so I applied it here.**

 **As always, please review and subscribe. We didn't reach 100 reviews last time, so let's try and do it here. They really help me out, you guys, so don't be afraid to do it.**

 **Catch y'all on the flip side. Have a great week and I'll see you all next Saturday like always ;-)**


	41. The Ultimate Clash

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: I was pretty close to doing something like that, but decided against it XD No it will not end well, as you are about to see.**

 **Music Chick: And it's all because of you ;-) You won't want to hug him in this chapter.**

 **Thanks so much to ctran03931 for following. Hope to have you review constantly like for my Pokémon stories ;-)**

 **As always, I want to thank 4fireking for guest writing on some parts.**

* * *

 **Hey guys. Hope you all had a great week. I was a little afraid that I wouldn't get this out on time because so much stuff was going on this week, but I did it. Writing this story and churning it out for a Saturday deadline may seem stressful, but it's not. I don't find the story at all stressful compared to other things, like schoolwork.**

 **So as we know, last time Matt ran off on his own, where he ran into a tree Digimon named Cherrymon, who tricked him into thinking that Tai was his enemy. Now Matt has found the others and he and Tai start a fight to the death. What will happen? Find out now.**

* * *

An onslaught of lightsaber swings roared through the forest as Matt and Tai had an unexplained and chaotic lightsaber duel. The two of them fought with such intensity that they did not have a chance to get a breath. When one would try and stop, the other would force them right back into it.

The other Destined Jedi watched in horror as their friends fought each other. Just as it seemed like things were going to be okay, Matt challenged Tai to a fight to the death. They had to stop this.

"Guys, stop!" Joe cried, desperate to end the duel before someone was either killed or seriously wounded. "Fighting is not going to solve anything!"

"You two are just making things worse!" Sora echoed, mortified by what she was seeing before her.

The two combatants were so focused on each other that they ignored their friends' cries to stop. Matt forced the pressure by launching an all-out assault, his hatred for his opponent bleeding into each strike he made. Tai dodged and weaved from each attack, testing his endurance and aerobic capacity to their limits.

"You are pissing me off right now, Matt!" Tai growled as he parried a set of incoming strikes. "Why are you acting this way?"

"What's it to you?" Matt roared, punching Tai in the face when their sabers clashed. "You scared I'm going to kick your ass, Tai?"

"As if!"

Their fight continued with each one's distaste for the other rising by the moment. Matt gave in further to the dark side to draw strength in order to finish Tai. The goggle-headed boy continued to avoid Matt whenever possible, but it was slowly getting difficult as he became winded.

Puppetmon was having the time of his life watching this duel go on. Cherrymon sure did a great job of confusing the blonde-haired Jedi and turning him against his friends. The longer this battle went on, the more it benefited him.

"Those brats are going to destroy each other!" he cried happily. "I can't wait to see it happen!"

* * *

"I think I understand what's happening here," said Tai during a rare lull in the battle. "You're upset because you want to be the leader of this team. I can sense it in your thoughts, Matt."

Matt scoffed. "Like I would want to lead this sorry ragtag group of misfits. I'm better off on my own. I don't need your pathetic butts holding me back."

Tai couldn't handle this taunting anymore and charged right at Matt. The blonde sidestepped the attack before grabbing the back of Tai's hair. He turned him around and slammed his face down onto his knee. With Tai stunned, Matt used the Force to send him crashing into a tree.

Blood flowed freely from Tai's nose as he recovered from the attack. Matt darted for the tree, his saber pointed like a bayonet. Just before the green blade could be plunged into his stomach, Tai leaped onto a branch above him. Matt couldn't move quick enough to abort the attack so the blade went into the tree's trunk.

"Got to be quicker than that." Tai teased, blowing a raspberry at Matt.

Matt quickly hurled the lightsaber up through the tree branch. He grabbed the hilt again and severed it off. Tai was now falling towards Matt.

He raised his lightsaber like a rapier and parried with the swift downward swings of Matt's strikes before his feet hit the ground. With both hands now caressing the underside of his lightsaber below the luminescent blade, Tai battled Matt in a lightsaber mano-a-mano. Tai always raised his lightsaber close to his face after one to four swings and Matt always struck hard when his lightsaber was raised to his shoulders.

Matt finally swung his lightsaber towards the legs, giving Tai time to jump over. When he turned around, he was met with a foot to the chest, knocking him against the tree. Tai charged in to end it, but Matt dodged the attack. He turned and grabbed the brown-haired Jedi by his neck before pressing him against the tree.

"Feel that, Tai? That's what it feels like when you never listen to me and always lead me to bad Digimon who want to hurt me." Matt said in a guttural tone as his hand squeezed Tai's throat.

"The Force will never hate or love you, but I will always tell you when you're being a short-tempered hothead, Matt," Tai glared back. He dug his heel into Matt's stomach to kick him off. "Now let's stop, or I will destroy your lightsaber."

Matt sneered at him. "Fat chance of that."

* * *

Away from the non-stop action, Kari wandered deep into the forest, drawn by the same voice that she had been hearing all day. This time it did not stop calling her, sounding like it needed her urgently.

"Where are you?" the girl called. "Don't be afraid. I won't hurt you."

After she turned her head from the right, one of the trees began to sparkle.

* * *

The other Destined Jedi felt helpless as Matt and Tai continued to fight without any sign of letting up. They felt like bystanders in their war against each other; there was nothing any of them could do to stop the two boys.

"I wish there was something we could do," Mimi said, feeling powerless to stop the fighting going on.

"It would be wise not to do anything," Izzy replied as the sound of laser swords clashing filled the air. "They won't stop until they're through."

Matt was getting tired as the duel dragged on. Sweat dripped down his face as he and Tai stared each other down. They both gasped heavily to get desperately needed air to their lungs. They couldn't keep this up for much longer. Someone had to end it quickly.

"I'm only doing this in memory of all the brave Digimon that have helped us," said Tai, wiping the sweat with the back of his hand. "They believed in us and believed in our commitment to save the Digital World. Don't dishonor them with what you're doing, Matt."

Matt was beyond reason at this point. He raised his saber until it was parallel with his shoulders before leaping through the air to collide his saber with Tai's. They traded strikes back and forth until Tai leapt over one that Matt put a lot of strength into. When Matt turned, Tai swung up and the blonde watched everything happen in slow motion as the saber inched toward his face.

A loud agonized scream erupted from Matt's throat once the saber touched his face. He reeled back with his hand over his eye. It felt like a tiger had clawed his face, unlike any pain that he had ever felt before. Once he pulled his hand away from his eye, everyone gasped in horror at what they saw.

A long, jagged line went from his cheek, right over his eye, and up to his eyebrow. For a second, he didn't know how to react. He couldn't see the scar, but could feel it burning over his eye, along with the sting of lacerated cheekbone. Rage surged through his body as his eyes met Tai. The leader had a remorseful expression on his face.

"Matt, I..." Tai moved to apologize. A quick flash of green, followed by the same burning sensation that Matt had just endured, caused him to stop. He slapped his hand to his cheek to try and numb the pain before pulling it away.

He knew that there was a scar. He could feel it. Steam rose from a three-inch scratch right in the middle of his cheek. His eyes went back to Matt's smug face.

"Now we're even." Matt smirked.

Something snapped inside of Tai that he couldn't control. At that moment, skewering Matt was the only thing on his mind. Raising his saber back up, he was ready to do just that. With a loud cry, he charged.

"That's enough!"

Out of nowhere, a Force push hit him like a wave in the ocean. His lightsaber fell out of his hand as he landed flat on his butt. He was too stunned to move as he saw Sora standing between them with her hand out.

"Stop this fighting right now, you two!" she almost begged. Her voice echoed through the forest. "One of you is going to be killed if this keeps going on."

"That's the whole point, Sora!" Tai shot back. "Matt needs to be taught a lesson, and if he wants to fight, then I'm more than willing to go down that road."

The look Sora gave him almost made the hair on his neck stand up on end. She glared knives into his very soul, looking like a mother scolding a naughty child. He knew it would be wise to keep his mouth shut at this point.

"I think you got your point across," she hissed, pointing to the scar over Matt's eye. Joe tried to put some Band Aids on, but the blonde stopped him from doing that. "You guys are two of the most stubborn idiots I have ever known in my life. For the sake of our mission, call a truce and move on."

Matt and Tai glared at each other as contempt for the other coursed through their veins. The last thing either of them wanted to do was submit defeat to the other.

"I'll only do that if Matt admits that he's been acting like a spoiled brat," Tai grumbled.

"You're the brat," Matt shot back, covering his eye. "You are always pushing us around until you get your way. Maybe I have something to say sometimes."

"Feel free to speak up now. I'm listening."

Matt took a deep breath before finally releasing all of the pent-up frustration that had been building up within him since they started their adventure.

"We are only back here because Gennai said the Digital World needs us," he said. "We are now just rats in a maze to them, losing all who were close to us along the way. Never once have we ever questioned what makes us stand a chance or maybe if all of this is causing us to drift apart with the Force. With Gennai dead, how will we know what to do?"

"Matt, you never questioned going back to help the real world or making me leader when it was on the line," said Tai. "You have to see this as our world now and we have as big of a goal to finish as last time. Remember, what happens here affects the real world as well."

"I don't care about this world! I want to be as far away from it with TK as possible!"

"You don't have a choice! What's wrong, Matt?"

Matt's mouth became a thin line. For what felt like an eternity, he did not say a word as he stood in deep thought. Finally, he burst into tears, surprising everyone in the area. Matt was so overcome with emotion that he fell to his knees, his tears spilling to the ground below.

"What if we fail?" he wailed. "What if one of us ends up killed like Gennai? Have you ever thought about that, Tai? If we fail, then we'll end up like the last group of Destined Jedi that was here. I can't let that happen."

Tai felt all of his anger towards the blonde wash away as Matt continued to cry. He finally understood what had been bothering him all this time, and he couldn't help but feel for Matt. Tai glided towards him, putting a hand on his shoulder as he kneeled down so their eyes were level.

"Matt, I promise you that I will not let any of those things happen," he said in a serious voice. "I'm just as concerned with everyone's safety as you are, but you need to trust me as the leader of the group to make the right decision. We can only succeed as long as we work together rather than against each other. I need you in order for this to work."

Matt turned away from his gaze.

"How do I know I can trust you?" he bit.

"I give you my word," Tai growled with confidence, turning Matt's face back to him. "And I _never_ go back on my word." He then stuck his hand out. "So, are we cool?"

Matt's face did not change in the slightest as he stared at the hand in front of him. For a second, he thought it would turn into a snake and bite him. The other Destined Jedi watched in breathless anticipation, worried that something else may happen to restart the fight between Matt and Tai.

Finally, Matt exhaled heavily through his nose before shaking Tai's hand. The others sighed in relief that this whole thing was finally over. Tai helped Matt back up to his feet.

"Promise me that nothing bad will happen to us," Matt pleaded.

"I promise, Matt," Tai confirmed with a wink. "You can count on me."

Sora had her eyes glued to the scars on their faces. She couldn't just sit there and let them get infected from being exposed to the open air.

"I can take care of those for you guys if you want," she said.

Tai nodded. "Please, Sora. It hurts so much."

The Jedi of Love was by his side in a second. Tai felt his cheeks start to burn in a different way as she put her hand on the scarred one. The red light of her symbol glowed softly as Sora began to heal the scar on his cheek. In a second, Tai could no longer feel the pain associated with the wound.

When Sora removed her hand, the small scratch was gone. Tai gave her a small smile, which in turn caused her cheeks to turn red. She turned to Matt, who dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

"Leave it," he said. "I want this to remind me of what happened here today. I still have a long way to go in discovering my purpose here. Rather than just erase it and pretend it never happened, I want it to be a permanent reminder."

"But don't you think you should let me make it more bearable for you?" she replied with her hands on her hips. "If you want to keep the scar, that's fine. At least let me seal up the wound so that it doesn't get infected."

With a groan, Matt rolled his eyes before allowing her to do her thing. Sora covered his eye as healing energy flowed from her hand. After a few seconds, she removed it from his face. The wound had been closed, but the scar remained like he wanted. Without all the swelling and blood, it was just a small red mark.

"Is that better?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes."

"Let's get out of here," said Tai, adjusting the obi on his yukata and putting his lightsaber back onto the hook. "We have to find Puppetmon and end this whole thing before it's too late."

He scanned the group to make sure everyone was present. Joe was there, Mimi was there, TK was there, and Izzy was there. He stopped.

Kari was missing.

Tai's face paled instantly as panic began to set in.

"Where's Kari?" he demanded.

"She was here a second ago," said TK, surprised to see that the eight-year-old girl was not standing next to him like before. Everyone looked around for any trace of Kari, but couldn't find her.

* * *

"My name is Kari," said Kari as she stared up at the sparkles on the tree branch. The whispers in her head were growing louder the longer she stared at the branch. "Would you mind telling me yours?"

Suddenly, it felt like a wave had crashed over the girl. She felt weightless like she was floating on top of water as a mysterious force took her over. A bright light began to glow from the tree until it consumed the entire area. The other Destined Jedi had just turned the corner when the light overcame them too. The children shielded their eyes so that the light did not blind them.

When the light finally died down, the forest had disappeared. Instead, the group found themselves back on File Island. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except that the sky was dark.

"What is this?" Tai breathed.

A mystical, almost hypnotic, voice replied.

"This is the moment that set everything into motion."

Everyone turned to see Kari standing with a blank look on her face. An almost divine light emanated from her. Tai could sense that this wasn't Kari speaking, but something using her as a medium to speak.

"Who are you?" he grabbed Kari's shoulders. "Why are you using Kari?"

"My name is Homeostasis," the being replied. "I am the one who desires peace and balance in the Digital World. The one you call Kari was the only one to make contact with me, so I am using her to explain."

"Explain what?" Sora asked, wanting answers as well.

"You'll see."

The sounds of a battle up ahead caught the children's attention. Homeostasis through Kari pointed in the direction they were coming from. It followed the sound with her feet levitating off the ground. Tai, being the protective brother, tried to catch her and stop her from what would look like her hurting herself.

That divine night was shrouded by something looming over the fearless leader. Above, a bomb not from the human world was falling towards Tai. Sora, having seen it, pushed hard and hoped the Force would know she needed to stop the bomb from hitting Tai.

The bomb passed right through him, almost like a ghost passing through walls.

Tai looked down in surprise. How could that be possible? By all means, he should have been blown away. Looking above him, he saw even more raining down upon the group. Several passed through him just like the first one did.

"Don't worry," said Homeostasis. "They're not real. Watch below you."

The group looked down and finally saw the battle happening below. They recognized the Dark Masters as the four Digimon attacked a group of children. Two had blue lightsabers while the others all had green ones.

"The first group of Destined Jedi were brought to bring balance to our world, but Piedmon and his cohorts killed the majority of them," Homeostasis explained as the scene changed to show two of the children, a boy and a girl, comforting each other during a rainstorm. The girl buried her face into the boy's shoulder as she sobbed.

"As you can see, because of this massive failure, the Destined Jedi lay dormant for centuries. We were hesitant at first to find a new group of Destined Jedi for fear that they would turn out just like the others, but our hands were forced."

"How?" asked Tai.

Once again, the group felt the sensation of flying through the air as the scene below them changed. This time, they were in an urban setting. Buildings sprouted up from all sides and the night sky remained. What the Destined Jedi saw floored them.

"There's Leomon!" Joe cried, pointing down below towards the familiar lion Digimon. His green lightsaber was activated, and he was standing over two young children that looked awfully familiar.

Tai's eyes widened in realization: it was he and Kari.

"That's me and Kari when we were little," he gasped.

"There's Ogremon," Mimi said, pointing at the figure opposite Leomon with the red lightsaber. Their lightsabers were locked together in fierce combat. It all started flooding back to the group now, almost as if it had happened yesterday.

From above, beams of light shined down on buildings across the street from each other. When the Destined Jedi looked closer, they saw younger versions of themselves watching in total fixation on the fight going on in the street.

"When Leomon and Ogremon came to your world, we knew that eventually we would have to decide who the next Destined Jedi would be," Homeostasis continued. "Since the eight of you had seen this event and had first contact with Leomon and Ogremon, we knew you would be the ones for the job."

Matt cocked his left eyebrow in confusion.

"So we were chosen because we saw the events in Hikarigaoka?" he drawled sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. "Sure sounds like you guys made a great choice. Why not just pick the first group of kids who come in contact with a Digimon?"

Through Kari, Homeostasis frowned at the blonde-haired boy's tone.

"It was more than just that, Jedi of Friendship," it said. "We had to make sure that you were the perfect fit. We watched you all develop for many years until we were sure that you were the ones we wanted to be the Destined Jedi."

"You keep saying 'we,'" Sora interrupted. "Who is 'we?'"

There was a moment of silence. A memory that Homeostasis didn't want to speak about began to pop up. As much as it didn't want to, for the Jedi of Love, it could share its terrible story.

"'We' were the ones in charge of maintaining harmony and balance in the Digital World," it said. "'To prepare for your arrival, we went to work on creating the lightsabers and infusing them with each quality you all possess. Courage, Friendship, Reliability, and on."

Homeostasis then took on an even darker tone as the scene changed before the children once again.

"But then, Piedmon attacked before we were ready."

The group now found themselves in a factory. A blast exploded from a nearby wall. Robotic Digimon poured into the room, shooting off missiles towards the workers in hoods. The Jedi watched in horror as most of them fell. Izzy looked up the Digimon on his computer.

"Those are Guardromon," he noted, pointing to the robots that looked rust in color. He then saw bigger ones coming in behind them. "And those are Mekanorimon."

"Now's not the time, Izzy!" Matt groaned.

After a few more moments, Piedmon drifted into the room. Joe screamed and hid behind Tai, thinking that the Dark Master was really there until he reminded himself that Piedmon wasn't.

They watched as the clown activated his twin lightsabers and slashed an opening in a glass case that contained eight eggs and lightsabers. As he was about to reach for them, a lightsaber ignition pierced the room.

"Get your grubby hands away from those, Piedmon!" a voice cried. The owner of the voice ran towards the clown with its blue lightsaber blade drawn. Its hood fell down, revealing a young man with brown hair that was tied in a ponytail at the back.

"Ah, Gennai," Piedmon smirked with false pleasantry as the two engaged in combat.

The group couldn't believe it. That was Gennai? He was so young, which almost made Mimi swoon over how handsome he was. It was no wonder that Gennai and Piedmon were so familiar with each other during the duel in the coliseum. They had a past history of encounters.

After dodging a strike aimed for his midsection, Piedmon decided it was time to leave. He would wait for the Destined Jedi to come and destroy them himself.

Gennai growled as the clown left the room. "Coward!" he roared.

He then grabbed the eggs and lightsabers and sliced through the top of a Mekanorimon. He tossed out the Bakemon that was within it before jumping in himself. The rockets on the robotic Digimon's back then activated as it flew upwards. A giant hole was blasted in the stone ceiling, revealing the open sky. Guardromon and other Mekanorimon flew after Gennai.

"Let us follow them," Homeostasis said as the Destined Jedi began to fly once again.

The Guardromon and Mekanorimon blasted everything they could at Gennai, but he would always somehow find a way to dodge. Soon, the group of robotic Digimon gave up and he finally escaped.

"With the lightsabers in safe hands, Gennai waited for the day you all would come. Eventually the eggs hatched into the Digimon that would serve as your guardians. One day, I sensed it was time for you to come and sent the lightsabers to you."

"And now here we are," Tai finished, fascinated by this whole trip. Now he finally understood how and why they were brought to the Digital World in the first place. The group then realized that they were back in the forest.

Homeostasis nodded. "Yes. We are not sure what the Dark Masters have planned, but we are working day and night to find out. For now, all we can do is guess and try to outwit them before something terrible happens."

"Like what?" TK asked.

"That is something for you all to figure out on your own," Homeostasis replied. "I fare thee well, Destined Jedi. May the Force be with you."

The divine glow that emanated from Kari vanished. Tai caught her just as she was about to hit the ground. After a few seconds, the girl began to stir as her eyelids fluttered open. She felt extremely groggy and lightheaded, but she couldn't remember anything that had happened. The last thing she remembered, she was conversing with the mysterious voice she had been hearing and then nothing.

"Are you okay, Kari?" her brother asked softly.

"Mmm. I think so," Kari groaned as she rose to her feet. She stumbled for a second, but Tai held her until she finally felt comfortable enough on her feet. "What happened?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Joe said. "It was like something came over you. It was so weird."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it, Kari," Tai gave her a smile before rising back to his feet. He immediately turned to Matt. "Well, looks like you finally got your answer for why we were chosen. So, are we going to be a whole group once again?"

Matt was lost in thought. On one side, he was thankful to finally have an answer, but there was still so much he didn't understand about himself. Until he did, he couldn't stay with the group anymore.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go off alone," he said. "There is still so much that I don't understand about myself, and I want to know. If I am going to discover those things, I need to be by myself for a while. I'll come back once I have. I promise."

Tai normally would have gotten angry with him, but their trip down memory lane made him see that if they were to succeed in their mission, they all needed to be focused.

"Then may the Force be with you, Matt," he replied. "We'll be waiting for you when you decide you want to come back to us."

"What am I going to do without you, Matt?" TK asked timidly, looking like he was going to cry at any second.

"You'll be fine, squirt," Matt said, giving his brother an assuring smile. "You're a big kid now. You can take care of yourself." He turned back to the others. "Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. May the Force be with you all, and hopefully our paths will cross again."

Without another word, he walked away from the group once again. Tai and the others watched with sad eyes as he disappeared into the forest. Whatever was bothering Matt, they hoped that he could get it straightened out and come back in a hurry. They all needed to be together to win this fight, but only if they were on the same page.

"What are we waiting for?" Tai said. "Let's get going, troops. We've got a world to save."

Before they could start moving, Mimi spoke up.

"I have a confession to make," she said. "I want to go on my own for a while too. I just don't want to see anyone else fight or get hurt. I hope you all can understand."

"Then that means I'm going with you, Mimi," added Joe, which caught everyone by surprise.

"What do you mean, Joe?" Sora asked.

"It's not safe for Mimi to be out here all alone," the Jedi of Reliability explained. "She'll be in good hands with me. Just like when we climbed Infinity Mountain together. We'll meet up again soon."

Despite being thrown multiple curveballs in a matter of minutes, Tai took this news surprisingly well. It was as if he knew that the Force was guiding them away from each other for a reason. Who was he to deny what the Force wanted?

"Okay. Good luck, Joe," he nodded, giving the boy a smile. "May the Force be with you."

"And also with you, my friend," Joe returned with a smile of his own.

* * *

 **And just as it seems like they are back together for good, they separate again. Where will the Force guide the Destined Jedi next? Find out next time.**

 **Bet you guys weren't expecting that ;-) I had been waiting to write that fight scene probably since I first began planning out the story a year ago so I went to town on it. The scar on Matt's face will be an important symbol later on in the trilogy, so this is not just a one-off. I dare you to guess who the boy and girl are during the flashback sequence. PM me with your answer.**

 **As always, review and subscribe to the story because we are winding down to the last six to eight chapters, so you don't want to miss any action. I'll have a surprise for you guys next week ;-) Not gonna tell you what it is. You'll have to read to see it.**

 **Bon voyage. Have a great weekend and week, everybody.**


	42. Diverging Roads

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Those of you who are in my inner circle do know ;-) That's exactly what happened.**

 **Music Chick: Yes he does need one XD Maybe he's just hangry for all we know.**

 **Thanks to garzam227 for favoriting the story.**

* * *

 **Hey guys! Sorry for being a little later than normal with posting, but I went to see Metallica in Cleveland last night! It was so awesome! And we got to 100 reviews! Your reward will be at the end of the chapter ;-)**

 **Anyway, things seem like they are getting worse for the group. Joe and Mimi have now broken away from the group, and Puppetmon is still on the loose. What awaits our young heroes next? Find out as an old adversary makes a return.**

* * *

Mimi woke up to the sound of soft singing nearby. The forest around her was a dark shadow beneath an even darker sky. No moon hovered over the world tonight, and the chilly wind bit away at her exposed face. The fire nearby was starting to die as the flames grew dim with each passing second.

While she was sad to be away from the group, she did not second-guess the choice she made to leave. She needed some space to deal with the sudden change in her life. One minute she was a normal girl living her life happily, and the next it was tossed into chaos. No girl should have to go through what she was going through right now.

" _When the lights, go down in the city_ _. And the sun shines on the bay. Ooh I want to be there in my city."_

Mimi turned her head over to see Joe sitting beside the fire. With a long stick, he shifted the large pieces of firewood around to keep the flames going, sending crackling sounds into the air. His eyes were drawn to the trees, staring deeply into the dark forest ahead.

"Joe?" she groaned, sounding like a frog was lodged into her throat.

The glasses-wearing boy jumped slightly at the sound of her voice before turning to face her.

"Oh, Mimi," he said, blushing in embarrassment. "I'm sorry. Was I too loud?"

"No, it was fine." Mimi sat up to move closer to the fire.

For a few moments, the two of them sat in silence. Joe was surprised at how much he had grown during their time in the Digital World. He was the coward of the group when they got here, despite being the oldest. Now, he was doing whatever he could to be a leader in the group. He knew that in order for them to survive, he had to take responsibility for everyone. That's why he decided to stay with Mimi when she wanted to break away from the group.

What he also knew was Mimi wasn't fine; she was staring at the fire so closely, seeming to try and let that scared, spoiled girl inside of her die. He sympathized with her.

"I should be helping more." Mimi mumbled as tears began to well up in her eyes. "I don't do enough within this group."

"Why is that?" he asked.

"All I do is wait for trouble to happen and don't help. I keep being too slow without much use of my lightsaber."

Joe shook his head. "That's not true, Mimi. You have helped us out plenty of times. Remember when you saved me on Infinity Mountain? I would have died a gruesome death if you hadn't tapped into your Force powers to save me."

"But it's not enough!" Mimi yelled out of frustration. "I couldn't do anything to save Leomon, or stop Tai and Matt from fighting, and now I'm afraid that I'm helpless to save anyone else! I don't want to fight anymore!"

The words echoed loudly among the trees. Mimi buried her face into her arms and began to sob. Joe was so taken aback by her outburst that he didn't react right away. If the two of them were going to make this work, then they needed to be honest with each other.

"I know you're scared," he said softly, patting her back comfortingly as he pulled her into his side. "I am too, but we can't let it overcome us. There are going to inevitably be more battles, Mimi. It's not something I want to do, but it's part of our reality right now. If we are going to survive, we will have to fight again at some point."

Mimi gave shaky breaths as she got herself under control. Both the warmth of the fire and Joe's body heat gave her some comfort, but tears continued to stream down her face.

"Was I selfish for saying that?" she asked, wiping a few of them away.

"No, you're not," Joe smiled at her. "I think it's brave of you to be honest with yourself right now, Mimi. You're a lot stronger than you think."

"You think so?"

"I know so. Don't lose faith. The Force will guide us wherever our destiny lies."

The two sat by the fire for a little while longer until Mimi fell asleep on Joe's shoulder. With a yawn, he carefully laid her down onto the ground before resuming his watch of the forest.

* * *

Tai looked back at the campsite from his post by a tree on the other side of the clearing to check on everyone. TK and Kari were asleep near the fire, Izzy was typing away on his computer, but Sora was nowhere to be found.

The leader didn't panic, for he knew that she was nearby. After a few seconds, she emerged from the foliage with a bundle of berries in her clutch. The way the flames made her face glow and accented her auburn hair sent tingles down the boy's spine. Thankfully he turned away before the redness on his face could be noticed.

"You doing okay?"

Tai turned to see the auburn-haired Jedi of Love standing behind him. Thankfully the burning sensation on his face had faded by now so he could acknowledge her presence.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said with a yawn. "No sign of Puppetmon or any others. I think we should be okay for the night."

"I hope Joe and Mimi are okay," said Sora, following Tai's line of vision into the forest. Even though they were far apart, she could still sense them within the forest.

"They'll be fine. Joe's already proven that he can take care of her, and she'll make sure he's okay."

The two Jedi let themselves be shrouded in silence as they stood watch. The sounds of the night surrounded them with the wind blowing lightly through the trees, bats fluttering through the forest in search of prey, and the chirping of crickets. Ever since they got back, they hadn't had a moment to relax and de-stress from all that had happened over the last two days. It was nice to just sit in silence and be left to their own thoughts.

Tai wondered if Matt was doing okay as well, wherever he was. The blonde was out there all by himself with no one to look after him. Their duel replayed in his mind, especially the moment his lightsaber slashed up his face.

"Hey, Sora," he finally said, hardly louder than a whisper. "Am I doing the right thing by letting us split up? I promised that I wouldn't let this team be broken up again after I came back from the real world, but now we're apart."

The auburn-haired girl squeezed his shoulder gently.

"Don't take it personally," she said. "Everyone takes things at their own pace. Matt is struggling to find himself and Mimi is just more sensitive than the rest of us. They'll figure things out eventually and we'll see them again. Even if the paths are different, we're all still committed to destroying the Dark Masters."

"But we're stronger together rather than apart. Like you keep saying, it's my responsibility to keep this group together and that's what I am trying to do. Now that we're separated again, I feel like a failure."

He threw his head into his hands with an exasperated sigh. It felt like gravity was pressing mercilessly on his young shoulders.

"What am I going to do?" he mumbled.

Sora smiled softly at him as she wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders. She could feel the inner turmoil that her friend was going through. Just when it looked like everything was going to be okay, the group's biggest enemy once again became themselves.

"All we can do is trust in the Force to guide us the right way," she said. "I know it seems hard right now, but we're behind you on this. I am behind you one hundred percent, Tai. We'll get through this just fine."

She squeezed his shoulder, hoping to transfer some of her confidence to him. It seemed to work because Tai's face brightened slightly, a smile crossing his lips.

"Thanks," he replied. "Go get some sleep. I'll let you know when it's your turn to take watch."

"Okay."

Sora walked back towards the fire. The flames were starting to dim slightly so she added more wood to the fire pit to keep it going for a little longer. TK and Kari were still sleeping peacefully, and Izzy had fallen asleep by this point. The boy was hunched over his laptop, so Sora eased him down to a more comfortable position.

With a yawn, she settled on the ground to get some much-needed rest. Her eyes didn't leave Tai the whole time as she watched him until they finally closed and sleep overtook her.

* * *

The next day, the splintered Destined Jedi continued their quest to find Puppetmon and destroy him. The sooner they could do that, then the sooner they could move on and destroy the other Dark Masters.

On the other side of the forest, someone was running as fast as they could to get away from what was chasing them.

Ogremon didn't know how he got into this situation. One minute he was just minding his own business, and the next he was being chased by a bunch of tree stumps. When Devimon had been defeated, the ogre left File Island and wandered the Digital World for a good while until the Dark Masters appeared. Never did he expect this, though.

One of the stumps lunged at him, but with one swing of his lightsaber, Ogremon disintegrated it into data. The others, numbering at least twenty, if not thirty, were stunned for a second but quickly recovered. Ogremon was ready for them, and used the Force to push them all back.

"You're not going to get me, suckers!" he cried triumphantly as he resumed running. Ogremon looked over his shoulder multiple times to make sure that the tree stumps were not following him anymore.

He was so worried about them that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. When Ogremon finally looked forward, he was shocked to see he was running towards a ravine. He skidded against the ground to try and come to a stop before he fell, but it was too late.

Ogremon tumbled through the air as he free fell into the ravine below.

* * *

Joe and Mimi walked in silence as the two of them tried to navigate their way through the forest. They wanted to see if they could find any allies from their previous travels to help them in their struggle against the Dark Masters. If they were going to fight, then they needed all the reinforcements they could get.

" _Roads go ever, ever on. Over rock and under tree. By caves where never sun has shown. By streams that never find the sea,"_ Joe sang softly as they continued walking.

Mimi paid no attention to him as her thoughts swallowed her. Joe's words from the previous night echoed in her mind. Was he right? Was she stronger than she thought she was? It seemed crazy to her because she didn't feel any different than when they started.

' _I don't want to see anybody else get hurt,'_ she told herself. _'But what can I do to make sure that doesn't happen?'_

Joe stuck his arm out to halt her walking. He looked around the forest with concentration, like he was looking for something.

"What is it, Joe?" Mimi asked, growing more nervous by the second.

"I sense something nearby," he replied quietly, which did nothing to ease her nerves. When he finally locked down where the presence could be, Joe pulled her along as they took off to their right.

After about fifty yards or so, the two of them finally reached a clearing in the forest. A pile of fallen tree branches caught their attention. Underneath the branches was a tall figure with green skin.

"Oh my gosh," Mimi gasped, raising her hand to her mouth in shock. Her legs suddenly got minds of their own and carried her towards the figure without a second of hesitation. She used the Force to move the branches off of the fallen Digimon to reveal who it was.

"Ogremon!" Joe screamed, running away from the scene as soon as he saw the ogre. After two seconds, he realized Mimi wasn't running with him. Instead, she was looking Ogremon over.

He appeared to be unconscious with bruises littering his body, making his skin appear to be black and blue instead of green. A cut on his forehead oozed blood down the bridge of his nose.

Despite her instincts telling her to get up and run from him, Mimi instead felt sympathy for the fallen Digimon. She grabbed a handkerchief from her pocket and began to lightly dab the wound. Ogremon groaned painfully as his eyes began to flutter open. They widened in realization when he saw Mimi.

"You're one of the Destined Jedi," he said in a scratchy voice that sounded like he had swallowed sand.

"Take it easy," Mimi said, forcing him back down as he tried to sit up. "You're bruised up pretty good. It wouldn't be wise to move for a while."

Ogremon watched in shock as she dabbed the wound on his forehead until the blood stopped pouring down his face. Why was she helping him after all that he did to them on File Island? It didn't make sense to the ogre.

"Joe, would you mind giving me a hand?" Mimi requested.

Joe looked at her like she was crazy. Was she serious about helping Ogremon after he nearly killed them during their training? The look she gave him seemed to confirm that she was. It didn't matter. He wasn't going to do it. Yet on the other side, he was born into a family of doctors so it was instilled in him since birth to help someone in need. Oh, this was giving him a headache!

"Now, Joe!" Mimi cried impatiently.

"Okay, I'm coming. I'm coming!" the boy groaned as he dragged himself over to them. He opened his duffle bag and searched through it for things he might need. "What seems to be the biggest problem?"

"I think his arm is broken," replied Mimi before she turned back to Ogremon. "Tell me if this hurts," she said as she lightly touched his arm. Ogremon grimaced, followed by a sharp gasp.

"That hurts," he hissed through gritted teeth.

"Yup, it's broken," said Joe. "We'll have to make a splint before we can wrap it up."

"But what will we use?" Mimi wondered, looking around the area for something that could pass for a splint.

Joe saw the branches that were on top of Ogremon nearby. An idea came to him as he activated his lightsaber. He cut one branch in half before slicing it into smaller pieces that could be used for a splint. He quickly returned to Ogremon's side.

"I'm going to splint your arm really quick," Joe explained. "This may hurt a little, so I apologize in advance for any pain."

He held Ogremon's arm carefully as he put the pieces of wood against it. He would accidentally put too much pressure on the limb at times, which would earn a sharp gasp of pain from Ogremon, followed by an apology.

"Hold his arm, Mimi. I'm going to wrap it up," said Joe as he pulled a roll of toilet paper out of his bag. Mimi held the two pieces of wood up as Joe began to wrap Ogremon's arm with the toilet paper. He wrapped it just tightly enough that it held the splint together, but not too tight that it hurt Ogremon. A sling was then put around him to keep it in place.

"How's that?" Mimi asked with a kind smile.

"Much better," replied Ogremon. "Thank you. I guess I owe you guys one. But why did you guys help me, especially after I tried to kill you all that time ago?"

"Well, in my family, helping others is in our blood," said Joe. "It would go against everything that I have been taught if we had just left you here to die."

"That's right," Mimi nodded. "We wouldn't be able to live with ourselves if something happened to you because we refused to help."

Ogremon slowly rose to his feet, collecting his lightsaber from the ground with his non-injured arm.

"What are you guys doing out here?" he asked. "Where are the others? I thought you lot would be together no matter what."

Mimi's face fell slightly before she replied, "We all needed a break from each other for a while. Some things happened that shook up the group. That's all you need to know."

Ogremon was surprised. What happened must have been horrible to force Mimi and Joe to leave the group. Maybe he could use this to advantage in his search for Leomon. The lion was not going to escape him this time.

"I see," he finally said. "Maybe you guys can lead me to Leomon. I haven't seen him in months and it's driving me crazy not seeing him. Do you know where he is?"

The mention of Leomon caused both Joe and Mimi to shut down. The memory of his sacrifice was still a fresh scar on their psyches. Ogremon could tell that something wasn't right.

"Leomon's dead," Joe replied so quietly that it could hardly be heard. "MetalSeadramon attacked us a few days ago and he took a blow meant for Tai. If it weren't for him, we would have all been killed."

Ogremon was floored by this piece of news. Leomon, his greatest rival and the Batman to his Joker, was dead? A million different things ran through his mind at that moment. He was unable to believe it.

"Dead?" he gasped.

"I'm really sorry," Mimi said, wiping tears from her eyes. "At least he'll be reborn at this place called Primary Village. Joe and I were going there to see if we could find him."

"I hate to tell you all this but there's nothing there anymore," replied Ogremon. "The Dark Masters infected Primary Village with their evil. It's basically destroyed."

Joe and Mimi gasped in horror. This just kept getting worse by the minute. Even if they wanted to get away from things for a while, they found a way to get pulled back in. That left them no other option.

"Then we must destroy the Dark Masters in order to bring life back to the village," Joe said with a determined expression. "Lead us on, Ogremon."

"Wait, what? Join forces with you kids? No way!"

"We don't know where we're going, and you know the way there, so I think it's a fair deal," said Mimi. "What do you say?"

Ogremon wasn't sure what to say. Never in a million years would he have imagined tagging along with the Destined Jedi, especially after he tried to destroy them multiple times. But as the old saying went, the enemy of his enemy, in this case the Dark Masters, was his friend. Once the Dark Masters were disposed of, then everything would go back to normal.

So even though he really didn't want to, Ogremon knew that there was no other choice.

"All right, I'll join you guys," he sighed reluctantly. "But let's see if we can find some others who are willing to help us. With just the three of us, I don't see how we're going to get far."

"You've got it," said Joe with a nod and smile. "You ready for this, Mimi?"

Mimi still was unsure if she was doing the right thing. After all, the purpose of separating from the group was to get away from all the fighting going on. Now, she was running back into it headfirst. But then her confession from last night echoed in her ears. This was her chance to prove to herself that she wasn't a crybaby anymore.

"I'm ready," she nodded.

"Then let's go, troops."

The company of three walked into the forest with an extra spring in their step. Now was the time to leave the past behind and forge a new future.

* * *

Tai and the others walked out of a briar patch with sharp thorns along each branch. Their legs and feet were lightly scratched, but their yukatas were not torn at any place. They had been travelling all day to find Puppetmon's hideout but didn't have any luck. Now, it was almost noon and the day was only bound to get shorter from there. They didn't have much time.

"How much further from here, TK?" Tai asked the boy ahead of them. Since he had been there before, TK volunteered to lead them to the house where he had been temporarily held prisoner.

"Not much further, I think," replied TK.

The group continued to follow him as Tai noticed the trees starting to get thicker and thicker. It all was starting to come back to him now. This was the way that they came the last time they went to find Puppetmon, only they weren't being taken on a magic carpet ride.

His eyes glanced at Kari. As he much as he didn't want to admit it, this was going to be her first fight. If she was going to be in harm's way, he felt he should prepare her for what she would face.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

His sister nodded. "Yes, I am."

"Whatever you do, just block any attack that comes your way. I'll take care of everything else. Puppetmon is a tricky duelist, so be prepared for anything."

"I'll be fine, Tai," Kari groaned with a roll of her eyes. "You don't need to worry about me so much."

"Well, this is your first official battle so I want you to be ready. This isn't some pretend world, Kari; this is real. I probably know that better than anyone."

"Yeah, only because Myotismon almost killed you," said Sora. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have any use of your arm anymore."

"And I greatly appreciate that, Sora," Tai winked with a teasing smile.

Izzy snickered, unable to contain his laughter for much longer. Tai glared at him.

"What's so funny?"

"I'm sorry, but you two sound just like an old married couple," the computer genius replied, trying to get his laughter under control.

"WE'RE NOT A COUPLE!" Tai and Sora both yelled.

Things fell silent after that and it wasn't long before TK stopped behind a row of bushes on the border of the clearing ahead. The young boy peeked through the shrubs to get a read on the situation.

Up ahead, Puppetmon's house appeared to be uninhabited at the moment. Tai couldn't sense anything nearby, so they must have just missed Puppetmon.

"That's it?" he whispered.

"Yeah, that's the place," TK nodded. "I don't sense Puppetmon nearby though."

The kids watched from the bushes for half an hour to see if Puppetmon would make an appearance. Wherever the Dark Master was, they knew that he couldn't be too far away. Nothing happened as the minutes continued to tick by, leaving them very impatient.

"Where could he be?" Tai hissed. His impatience was going through the roof so he decided to take action. He charged out of the bushes and into the clearing, despite Izzy and Sora's best tries to stop him.

"Come out and fight us, Puppetmon!" he yelled as he activated his lightsaber. "You want us? We're right here!"

A rumble tore through the ground. Many red squash-looking Digimon that reminded Tai of Vegimon popped out of the ground like weeds. Their angry, yellow eyes were fixed completely on him. Tai instantly felt dumb because he knew what this meant.

A laugh nearby confirmed his thoughts.

"Look who came to play," Puppetmon snickered as he jumped down from a nearby tree. His red lightsaber was already activated and ready for action. "I wondered when you guys would show up."

Tai smirked as the other Destined Jedi came out from hiding with their sabers drawn. "I had a feeling you would set a trap for us, Puppetmon. Let's get him, guys!"

"RedVegimon, attack!" Puppetmon cried as the platoon of Digimon charged.

The two sides clashed with ferocity. Tai took out three RedVegimon right off the bat with three swift swings of his lightsaber. Izzy and Sora stood back-to-back and took out any that came their way. TK leapt through the air with impressive acrobatics to take out any enemies, almost like he was copying Tai. The RedVegimon didn't stand a chance, but they kept pushing as hard as they could.

"Tai!" cried Kari as a RedVegimon darted for her after taking one out.

Her brother was by her side in a second, digitizing the vegetable with one strike. They didn't get much of a reprieve as more RedVegimon continued to come at them. It seemed like there was two more waiting for every one that they destroyed.

From the corner of his eye, Tai noticed that Puppetmon was trying to run away from the scene. One RedVegimon tried to run away with him, but Puppetmon cruelly destroyed it by plunging his lightsaber into its chest. This had gone too far for Tai. This had to end.

"No you don't," he hissed through gritted teeth as he destroyed another RedVegimon before pursuing the Dark Master. With a burst of Force speed, he managed to cut Puppetmon off.

"Going somewhere?" he taunted.

Puppetmon growled in frustration. These kids were starting to really get on his nerves. On the positive side of things, this was his chance to destroy the Destined Jedi by himself.

"This time, I am going to destroy you kids once and for all," he declared. "Once you're out of the way, I'll find the rest of your little friends and destroy them too."

"I'd like to see you try!"

The two charged with blind anger, determined to destroy the other with all they had. Puppetmon dodged a stab before kicking Tai straight in the chest. As the Jedi fell backwards, he lunged forward to plunge his saber into Tai's chest. Before Puppetmon could get close to him, Sora flew in from out of nowhere and kicked the puppet in the side of the head, knocking him away from Tai.

Soon, Izzy, TK, and Kari joined the other two Jedi, surrounding Puppetmon on all sides. There was nowhere left to run.

"It's over, Puppetmon," said Sora as she pointed her lightsaber. "There's nowhere left for you to run."

Puppetmon desperately searched for a way out, but he was met with one of the Destined Jedi wherever he turned. Things seemed bad for him, but just like an animal that was cornered, he was not going to go down without a fight.

' _Wait! We must be careful! The Destined Jedi are strong.'_

Puppetmon's eyes widened as he heard a familiar voice in his head. It sounded just like Cherrymon when he warned Puppetmon not to underestimate the Destined Jedi.

' _They're stronger than I suspected. Don't underestimate them, Lord Puppetmon, or else it could be disastrous. They have something you don't.'_

Those were the last things that Cherrymon had said to him before he destroyed him. What did the tree mean by all of that? It made Puppetmon's head hurt from trying to decipher it.

' _Ah, who cares what that overgrown root thinks?'_ he shrugged it off, shaking his head to rid it of those words. _'He's dead and I'm not. I'm more powerful than any of these little twerps. There's nothing that I don't have to destroy them.'_

"You kids think you're so tough, huh?" he taunted. "Well, here's a little something for your troubles."

Without warning, he used the Force to split the ground apart. The Jedi cried out in surprise as the part on which each of them stood rose to various levels in the sky. Kari almost lost her balance but TK managed to grab her in time before she could fall off.

"So long, losers!" Puppetmon cackled as he ran away.

He didn't get far before a lightsaber ignition caught his ear. Puppetmon turned to see a green lightsaber slowly emerging from the darkness up ahead until its owner revealed itself to him. It was Matt, who was staring at the Dark Master with a neutral expression.

"Oh, it's you," said Puppetmon, happy to see a friendly face. "Finish the job and destroy your friends for good!"

Matt did nothing. The glare on his face never left as he stood motionless before Puppetmon.

The puppet gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in frustration.

"I command you to destroy them!" he roared as he reactivated his lightsaber.

"No," Matt finally said. "It's over for you, Puppetmon. The reason no one will be on your side is because you don't care about them. You destroyed Cherrymon for no reason other than he didn't tell you what you wanted to hear. Without friends, you have nothing."

Puppetmon's face twisted into what a bull may have looked like when seeing the color red. How dare this insignificant Jedi have the audacity to address him in such a way! He was a Dark Master, the most powerful being in the entire Digital World. He didn't need anyone else.

"Who cares? I'm still strong!" his voice shook with rage. "And I don't care what anyone thinks! They're still going to do what I tell them to do!"

He roared loudly as he charged at Matt, his lightsaber pointing towards him like a bayonet. Matt leaped over the attack and threw his lightsaber up before plunging the blade into Puppetmon's back.

The Dark Master looked down at the green blade sticking out of his chest in shock. After a few seconds, it wore off and the effects started to take a hold of him.

"Oh shit," he gasped before falling flat on his face. As he started to feel death overcome him, he managed to mutter out a few more words.

"Cherrymon, what do they have that I don't?"

' _Friends,'_ the tree's voice called to him through the Force. That was the last thing Puppetmon heard as he finally disintegrated into data.

Matt stared at the spot where Puppetmon had once lay in sadness. The Dark Master was just a lonely soul with no friends to call his own. It was almost like the two of them were exactly the same, which was why he wanted to change. He didn't want to be what Puppetmon was.

"Thank you, Matt," Sora's voice snapped him out of his stupor. The others had freed themselves from the mounds of earth that Puppetmon created. When he was destroyed, the ground returned to normal.

Matt gave them all a shy smile. "Yeah, no problem."

Without another glance, he walked away from them to go back into the forest. The group watched with sad eyes as he got further and further away from them. They needed him back, but understood that he needed to figure things out for himself.

Suddenly, the forest began to disappear before their eyes. Just like what happened with the ocean when they destroyed MetalSeadramon, the forest was now free from Puppetmon's control and was disappearing to be reconfigured.

"We must get somewhere safe!" Izzy urgently said.

Everyone nodded in agreement. Without another word, they turned and ran away from the forest. With two Dark Masters down, there were only two of them left to go. Things were only about to get more and more difficult from here.

* * *

 **Puppetmon has now been destroyed. Two down, and two more to go. Make sure to stay along as we move closer and closer to the destruction of the Dark Masters.**

 **Hope you guys all enjoyed that chapter. It was a bit of a rough one for me, but I slogged through and did the best I could with it. With Puppetmon's last words, I did it as a reference to the 2007 Transformers movie when Frenzy was destroyed. The songs Joe does are Journey's "Lights", which is a good song to describe Odaiba as well, and "Roads Go Ever On" from The Hobbit. Credit goes to Journey and J.R.R. Tolkien for those.**

 **Here is your reward for reaching 100 reviews. Another teaser of what is to come in Attack of the Emperor.**

 **X**

 _"Cheated!" Ken roared, refusing to back down like a cornered animal. "You all couldn't defeat me fairly so you had to cheat to do it! Well, enjoy your little victory while you can because I'm going to right this wrong by resetting the Digital World! Resetting it and making sure that I win this time!"_

 _Everyone gasped in shock at his words._

 _"Resetting the Digital World?" Kari said breathlessly._

 _"What the hell are you talking about?" Matt demanded, his disdain for Ken coming out in his voice as he glared at him._

 _"It's quite simple. I'll go back home and delete all the Digital World data off my computer and create a new program. A new Digital World. A new Digital World that doesn't cheat. A new Digital World that doesn't have you."_

 ** _X_**

 **Pretty interesting stuff, don't you think? I'm sure you all are eagerly anticipating the second story just as much as I am. But we still have a ways to go here. As always, leave a review and subscribe because it motivates me even more to churn these chapters out every week for you guys. Now it is on to "My Sister's Keeper" next week. See you all then ;-)**


	43. My Sister's Keeper

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: That's awesome, man! I'll bet it was a great show. I love Little Shop of Horrors, but I had the part from Transformers in mind when I did it XD**

 **Music Chick: Yup. It's so completely unlike him, which makes it funny XD They'll be together again soon. Just you wait.**

* * *

 **Hey guys. Here we are again. The countdown is now beginning on how much time we have left in this story. For now, we move on to one of my top five favorite episodes from the entire first season, which was also probably the most emotional one by far. Two Dark Masters down, and two more to go. Let's see who is up next. Enjoy.**

* * *

A crash, followed by the sound of glass shattering, echoed throughout the room. Piedmon eyed the damage he caused with fury burning through his eyes. When news of Puppetmon's demise reached him, he wasn't sure how to react so he just unleashed it by destroying everything within arm's reach of him.

"Those brats are starting to bug me now," he grumbled under his breath as he rapidly paced back and forth. "I knew that they would be strong, but never did I expect this. Breaking them apart only seemed to make them stronger."

At the rate they were going, it would not be long until the Destined Jedi reached the top of Spiral Mountain. If they reunited with each other, there was no way that Piedmon could stop them.

"Machinedramon!" he yelled impatiently.

The mechanical beast entered the observatory hall within seconds. It knew that whenever Piedmon sounded like that, it meant business. Whatever the leader of the Dark Masters wanted, it knew that it needed to pay attention lest it end up like its two fallen comrades.

Machinedramon grunted to announce its presence.

"We are running out of time," said Piedmon. "MetalSeadramon and Puppetmon underestimated those brats, but I know you won't. Go and wait for them in Machine City; your territory. Last time I checked, a group of them are on their way now. Finish them."

Machinedramon nodded with a low roar.

Piedmon's face curled in a wicked grin.

' _Those Destined Jedi have no chance against you, Machinedramon. You're programmed for total annihilation, and it was because of you that those Jedi were killed a long time ago.'_

* * *

Tai and his group sweated buckets as the hot desert sun baked them mercilessly. The hot, balmy winds did them no favors as they walked down a barren highway in the middle of the desert. It was just past mid-day, so the temperatures were at the highest they could possibly be.

Despite the unbearable heat, Tai insisted that they press on because he could sense civilization was somewhere up ahead. Whether it was a mile or one hundred miles, he did not know. The hope that they would reach it kept them going. He looked behind to see that the others were walking like zombies and on the verge of passing out.

"Hang in there, guys," he told them. "We'll be there soon. I'm sure of it."

Kari suddenly coughed several times. It didn't sound too good from how heavy and wheezy they were.

"Are you okay, Kari?" TK asked concernedly. "That didn't sound too good."

She gave him a weak nod. "I'm fine," she replied hoarsely. "Just some sand got blown into my throat. Nothing to worry about."

But after she said that, several more coughs overtook her until it became a full-blown fit. After a few of them, her legs finally gave out on her and she collapsed face-first onto the pavement.

Tai immediately turned at the sound and was by her side in a second.

"Kari?" he gently shook her to wake her up. "Kari! Are you okay?"

Once he touched her, his fingers shot straight back like they had touched a burning stove. Kari was blazing hot; her face was devoid of any color save for a small strip of red going across her face, and sweat was dripping down her forehead. Panic started to set in as Tai realized she had a fever.

"She's sick," he reported to the other members of their party as he collected his sister into his arms. "We have to find somewhere that's shaded for her to rest under. Quickly!"

Thankfully, a covered bus stop was just a quarter of a mile up the road, so the group went there and immediately placed Kari on the bench. Sora pulled a rag out of her pocket and dumped some water from her canteen onto it before putting the dampened cloth onto Kari's forehead. Tai stroked her hair tenderly.

Feeling the relief of shade and a wet compress on her forehead, Kari's eyes fluttered open to see everyone staring at her. She felt dizzy, dehydrated, and weak from the fever. She turned to see her brother sticking his canteen out to her.

"Drink this," he said. "There are a few drops left. Enough for you to have a drink."

Kari shook her head. "But there won't be any left for you," she choked out.

"You need to drink something, Kari. Don't worry about it. The next stop we make, I can refill. Please take it."

The girl reluctantly took the canteen from her brother and slowly sipped the rest of the water that he had. It brought a little bit of relief, but not enough to make much of a difference.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were sick before, Kari?" Tai asked, feeling upset at himself for not recognizing her condition sooner. "We could have stopped and rested until you felt better if you had said something."

Kari coughed again before looking up at her brother with sad eyes.

"You mad?" she croaked. "I didn't want to slow you all down."

Tai felt tears start to well up in his eyes. Even when feeling at her absolute worst, Kari still put the welfare of the team before herself. For a brief second, his mind flashed back to a similar image to the one he was looking at now from three years ago.

"I'm not mad," he assured her, planting a kiss on the top of her head before turning to Izzy. He needed to look away before he started crying.

Sora and TK stepped up in his absence to make sure the girl was comfortable as he and Izzy talked.

"I was too careless," Tai moped. "We shouldn't have even brought her here in the first place."

"Tai, what are you talking about?" Izzy exclaimed, shocked that he would say such a thing. "We need her here to help us save the Digital World. She's a Destined Jedi, remember?"

"Yeah, but since she's sick, we should have left her somewhere safe," Tai shot back, feeling a lump start to form in his throat. "Maybe we should have split up so that one of us could take care of her while the rest of us went on. Or I should have had Joe and Mimi take her along with them when they left. At least Joe would know how to take care of her if something happened."

Izzy sensed the emotional stress that the leader was going through. He may not have had siblings of his own, but he could understand the worry that came with loved ones being sick. Before he found out he was adopted, he would worry endlessly if either his mother or father got sick.

"What's come over you, Tai?" he asked, having never seen Tai this distressed before.

Tai took a deep breath to get himself back under control.

"I'm just worried about her is all," he finally said. "It's my responsibility as the leader to make sure that each one of you is okay. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to any of you."

Back at the bench, Sora dabbed some more cool water onto the compress to cool it down after it soaked up the heat from the air and Kari's forehead. They could only keep this up for so long before they needed to do something else.

' _I wish Joe were with us,'_ she thought as she put the compress back on Kari's forehead. _'He'd have some medicine that we could use to help bring her fever down. I don't know what to do.'_

"Sora?"

The auburn-haired Jedi turned behind her to see Biyomon floating just above the ground. A relieved smile came to her face.

"Biyomon," she greeted. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"What seems to be the problem?" the bird asked. "I felt you were distressed about something so I came as fast as I could."

"Kari is sick and we're a long way from anywhere," Sora explained. "Do you think you could help us get out of here?"

"Sure," Biyomon nodded before stepping back a few steps. "Just give me a second. I'm not sure that being in this form will do you all much good."

A blinding light surrounded the bird and burned so bright that everyone around had to shield their eyes. Biyomon got bigger and her wings grew longer until the light finally dissipated to reveal her new form.

"Birdramon!" she cried, her voice sounding much deeper and more majestic than before.

Everyone gazed up in awe at the large bird before them. Birdramon's entire body was covered in orange feathers. Her teeth grew as long and sharp as knives, but emitted a gentle nature, despite her ferocious appearance.

"Climb on," she said, landing back on the ground so that the group could climb on to her back.

Once everyone was loaded up, she took off in flight. The group watched as the road flew by below them until the sand of the desert finally disappeared and the ocean took its place. The breeze became much cooler as well, providing much needed relief to the Destined Jedi, especially Kari.

"Look!" cried TK, pointing straight ahead towards something.

Tai's eyes widened in shock when he saw what TK was pointing at.

"That can't be!" he exclaimed.

On the horizon, and growing ever closer, was a city that looked a lot like Manhattan. Tai recognized a lot of familiar sites: the World Trade Center, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and all the other skyscrapers that made up the New York City skyline.

As they flew over the city, the scenery began to change. A city square that looked a lot like one in Rome appeared, followed by the Arc de Triomphe from Paris. It was a cluster of many famous sites from all kinds of cities around the world. It was like the World Showcase at Epcot Center at Disney World had been brought to the Digital World.

Tai noticed that Kari was getting worse as the flight went on, so he encouraged Birdramon to fly faster. The giant bird obeyed without question and flew as fast as she could with the five children on her back. The leader kept on the lookout for somewhere they could stop.

Not long after, a house appeared up ahead. The exterior was quasi-Victorian architecture and looked nice enough for what they needed. The Destined Jedi didn't see anywhere else in the area, so it would have to do.

"Stop there, Birdramon," Sora commanded.

"Roger that," the bird acknowledged as she headed for the house, landing softly on the lawn with an easy descent.

Once everyone had disembarked, Birdramon reverted back to her previous form of Biyomon. Tai carried Kari in his arms as he, Izzy, and TK ran into the house without a second to waste.

"Thanks, Biyomon," Sora smiled in thanks.

"You're welcome," the bird smiled back. "Be careful. Something is heading this way, and I don't think you'll want to wait for when it does. May the Force be with you, Sora."

That was the last thing Biyomon said before she vanished. Sora didn't have time to reflect on her warning because she immediately ran inside to join her friends. Kari's health came first, and she was going to do whatever it took to help the girl get better.

Sora barged into a nearby bedroom and saw Tai lay Kari down onto the bed. The girl sighed happily once her head hit the cool pillow and her brother started tucking her in.

Tai looked up to see Sora standing in the doorway.

"Watch over her," he instructed. "I'm going to go see if I can find some aspirin for her."

"Got it," she nodded before he ran out of the room.

Tai was in a full-blown panic as he rummaged through every single cabinet and drawer in sight, desperate to find something that would help with Kari's fever. One bedroom yielded nothing, as did another spare room. He finally entered the kitchen, where TK and Izzy were also looking through everything they could find.

"Any luck?" he asked.

"No," Izzy replied as he and TK shook their heads. "There's nothing here, Tai. It's all empty."

Tai growled in frustration as he searched a nearby medicine cabinet. In his hurry, he nearly pulled a whole drawer out. After initial failure, he spotted a small box that read _Children's_ _Aspirin_.

"All right!" he exclaimed. When he opened it, however, it was barren as the desert they had just come out of. Tai clenched the box so tightly that it crumpled like a piece of paper. He blinked away tears before throwing it down and kicking it.

"This is pointless!" he growled. "As much as I don't want to, we're going to have to search for a hospital or pharmacy nearby in order to find something for her."

"Odds are that we'll find one here," Izzy nodded. "Let's go."

"I want to come with you guys too!" TK exclaimed. "I promise that I won't be in your way. Honest!"

Tai smiled as he bent down to the boy's level.

"I need you to stay here and watch over the girls, okay TK?" he said. "You're the man of the house for now while Izzy and I go out."

TK was initially disappointed at being turned down for the mission, but knowing that Tai was depending on him to be the man of the house washed away any disappointment.

"You've got it," the boy said with a salute. "You can count on me to make sure things go smoothly here, Tai."

Tai's smile grew wider as he patted TK on the head.

"Atta boy, TK. I knew I could depend on you." He looked up at Izzy. "Let's go tell Sora that we're heading out."

The three boys left the kitchen to return to the bedroom. Sora was tending to Kari at the moment, using her healing powers to try and provide some comfort to the girl. Kari sighed contently in her fever-induced sleep.

"How is she?" Tai asked.

"She'll be okay for now," replied Sora. "But we need to find some medicine for her to help with the fever."

"Izzy and I are going to do that now. You guys should be safe here, but if the Dark Masters find you, drop everything and get out as quick as you can."

The auburn-haired Jedi nodded. "You've got it. Don't worry about Kari. She's in good hands with me."

Tai smiled at her. "I know she is. May the Force be with you."

Without another word, he and Izzy took off from the house and out into the street. Even though they were out of the desert, it was still a very hot day. The heat reflected off of the pavement like a desert mirage and instantly caused sweat to appear on their foreheads. Their determination to complete their mission gave them the strength they needed to not let the heat get to them.

"See if you can find the nearest hospital or pharmacy, Izzy," Tai instructed. "We can't waste any time."

"Roger," Izzy nodded before he started looking around for a directory or something of the sort. Suddenly, a telephone booth caught his eye.

"What are you doing?"

The computer genius rolled his eyes at the leader's density.

"We live in a digital age now, Tai. There are much simpler ways of finding things," he said as he entered the booth. He hooked up his computer's connection cable to one of the ports in the payphone and started typing away.

A map of the entire area pulled up on his computer screen before Izzy decided to narrow the search to just nearby hospitals and pharmacies. To his and Tai's relief, a host of glowing points appeared on the map. The leader pointed to one that was close by.

"That's where we'll go," he said as he rushed out of the booth before Izzy could unplug.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Izzy cried as he unplugged his computer and ran after Tai.

Little did he know that one little action had unintended consequences for them.

* * *

"They've logged off, Lord Machinedramon," said a gear that was watching the same map that Izzy had pulled up just a moment ago. A second one floated to its left with the Dark Master looming behind them. "They were searching for hospitals and pharmacies."

Machinedramon let out growls that sounded unintelligible to almost anyone else except for the gears.

"Yes sir. We'll get on that right away."

The locations of all the hospitals and pharmacies in that general area were pulled up. The gear's eyes widened at how many there were. It would be impossible to guess where that the Destined Jedi had gone.

"Twelve locations?" it exclaimed. "How are we going to find them, Lord Machinedramon?"

Machinedramon growled threateningly, which only served to frighten the Digimon even more.

"Y-Yes, my lord. I'll alert them right away."

* * *

Tai felt a sick feeling overcome him when the hospital's automatic doors opened and he walked inside. He always got anxious around hospitals due to the bad memories they held, especially when Kari nearly died from the pneumonia that she got because of him. He could hear his mother's words in his head again.

" _DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU'VE DONE?! WHAT COULD YOU HAVE BEEN THINKING?! YOU KNEW SHE WAS SICK!"_

' _Some scars I guess will never heal,'_ he thought as he wandered through the halls. His hands clenched subconsciously as the tension ran through him. _'Even though Kari doesn't hate me, I'll probably forever hate myself for this.'_

" _Be mindful of your feelings, Tai,"_ Agumon's voice entered his mind. _"Remember what I told you back in the forest. Concentrate on the mission."_

Those words seemed to bring comfort to the boy as he slightly relaxed. Izzy finally appeared from around the corner and waved to him.

"This way!" he exclaimed. "I found the pharmacy!"

* * *

Tai's head hurt as he stared at all the different containers and bottles that were lined up on the shelves. Some of them had names that he couldn't even pronounce. This was way out of his league, but it was for Kari's benefit.

"Which is the right one we need?" he asked, reading one of the bottles' contents.

"I'm not sure," Izzy replied sadly. "I wish Joe was here. He'd know what some of this stuff is."

"That's a doctor's kid for ya. They're never around when you need them." Tai groaned. This was taking too long, and Kari was only getting sicker by the minute. "Wouldn't some Advil just be enough?"

"Do you think any of us has Advil?" Izzy chuckled sarcastically.

He glanced over at the nearby telephone. As his eyes glanced down at the landline it was connected to, he immediately got an idea. If he could patch into the hospital's system, maybe he could find exactly what they needed.

He disconnected the phone from the line and replaced it with his computer cable, immediately going to town on the keyboard. After a few seconds of searching, he finally found the list of fever-reducing medicines.

"Take your pick."

Tai checked the shelves for any of the listed medicines. Finally, his eyes glanced at one particular bottle and plucked it off the shelf. A sense of relief washed over him once he felt it weigh down on his hand, signaling it was full.

"We got what we needed, so let's get out of here," he said.

Izzy nodded in agreement, unhooking his computer from the landline. Before the two boys could move, a loud blast rocked the whole building. The power instantly went out, plunging them in total darkness.

"They found us," Tai realized in horror. "I don't know how, but they've found us. Let's get out of here!"

He pocketed the aspirin before they took off running down the hall. They plucked their lightsabers off of their obis to prepare for the trouble they knew they would encounter.

Up ahead, just past the hospital's automatic doors, was a line of Mekanorimon blocking off any way out. Tai and Izzy activated their lightsabers as the robotic Digimon fired at them. The blasts instantly disintegrated everything they hit, from doors to some of the furniture.

"We can't win this one, Tai," said Izzy. "Let's find another way out."

"You've got it," Tai nodded as the two then made a run for it down another hallway. They didn't get far before something came bursting through the walls. A tank-like Digimon with strong armor and a threatening look pointed its guns directly at them.

"This just keeps getting better," Tai rolled his eyes as the tank began firing at him and Izzy. The two of them deflected and dodged as much of the fire as their speed with a saber would allow. "What do we do now, Izzy? Got any ideas?"

"Same one as before," Izzy replied as he deflected a laser blast. "Cut our losses and leave!"

Tai nodded with agreement as the two of them waited for the tank to stop firing for a moment before using their Force speed to burst through a door and leave. The Digimon ended up hitting a Mekanorimon that was coming around to corner them instead.

The two Jedi ran as far away from the hospital as they could. Even though their path seemed clear, they could sense the presence of several legions of Digimon throughout the entire city. Someone knew they would be coming this way and set a trap for them, so it seemed.

"How did they find us so fast?" Tai gasped as he tried to keep his breathing under control while running.

"I don't know," replied Izzy.

Suddenly it occurred to him. The group of Digimon zeroed in on the hospital they were in directly, as if they were tracked. It was him logging in and out of the system on his computer that alerted them to their presence. If he hadn't done that, odds are they wouldn't be in this position right now.

* * *

Tai and Izzy sought refuge in a nearby church that they were sure the army of Digimon wouldn't find them. The cathedral was huge, almost as big as the one in Notre Dame in Paris. The air gave a peaceful aura to the room, but things were hardly peaceful between the two Jedi.

"It's my fault," said the computer genius. "I was giving away our location every time that I logged on with my computer. How could I have not known that?"

The look on Tai's face made Izzy shrink back in fear. If looks could kill, he would certainly be dead. Tai looked like he wanted to run his saber through him as he grabbed the front of his yukata roughly.

"That's a good question," he growled, pulling Izzy's face inches away from his own. "Now we're stuck here. Meanwhile, Kari is getting sicker and sicker because of your carelessness, you little ingrate!"

Izzy flinched and closed his eyes as he saw Tai wind his fist back to punch him straight in the face.

"Tai, stop it! What's come over you?"

The leader felt the sensation of someone holding him back. He whipped his head around to glare at whoever it was that had touched him. It was Agumon.

"A-Agumon?" he breathed.

"Get a grip on your emotions, Tai. Look where it's gotten you," said the lizard.

Tai turned back around to see Izzy's fearful face. His eyes were still closed in anticipation of the punch he thought was coming. It finally hit Tai what he had just done. Shame washed over him like an ocean wave.

"I'm sorry, Izzy," he sniffled as he let go of the boy. He turned away from him, unable to look him in the eye after what he had done to him. All of this was because of that stupid memory that haunted him.

"What's going on, Tai?" Izzy asked in soft voice. "This isn't like you. What's wrong?"

Tai desperately tried to control his tears as they threatened to cascade down his face like a waterfall. He had never shared this with anyone before; not even Sora knew about what had happened that day. Maybe talking about it would make him feel better.

"It's Kari," he said. "She almost died before because of me."

Izzy gasped in shock.

"It happened when she was four or five. Just a little kid," Tai continued, feeling his throat start to tighten up as everything came flooding back to him. "She stayed home from kindergarten one day because she was sick. I knew she was sick, but all I could think about on the way home was playing soccer. When I came home, she was there alone. I wanted to go out and play, but I didn't want to leave her by herself so I took her outside with me. She seemed okay. Really, she did.

"Everything started out all right. We just simply kicked the ball back and forth between us. I wanted to show her some moves I had been working on, but I should have paid closer attention to how she was. When she kicked the ball back over to me, it went away. I turned around to try and correct her…" Tai stopped as an onslaught of sobs overcame him. Finally, he got himself under control long enough to finish his sentence. "When I turned around, she had collapsed to the ground. I wanted to run and help her, but I couldn't move. It was like the ground was keeping me glued to that spot. Someone must have called the paramedics because they arrived a few minutes later and took her to the hospital. A police officer took me there, and I waited for either Mom or Dad to show up."

His mother's distraught and angry face flashed in his mind for a brief moment, followed by the ghost pain of when she slapped his cheek.

"Mom finally showed up, and she snapped big time. She slapped me and asked me if I knew what I had done. Dad stopped her before she could do anything else, but I got the message loud and clear. Kari ended up with pneumonia or something. She almost didn't make it, but thankfully she did. What really kills me is what she said when they brought her home from the hospital, the first words out of her mouth."

Tai's crying fit resumed. It was too painful to remember what Kari had said to him. It broke his heart every single time.

Finally, he managed to shakily say, "She said 'Tai, I'm sorry I can't kick the ball very good. You'll never want to play with me again,'" before he broke down and cried for several minutes straight.

Izzy was amazed and horrified to hear this. No wonder Tai worried himself sick when they found out Kari was sick. It was because of that one incident that he took personal responsibility when something happened to her. The computer genius kneeled down and patted the brown-haired leader's back as he continued to sob into the cobblestone ground.

Tai got himself back under control once his tears ran out. His eyes were red and puffy from all the crying he had done, and snot ran down his nose. He wiped it off with the back of his glove.

"That's her," he said. "That's Kari. She never thinks about herself. It doesn't matter if she feels bummed out or if she's worried about other stuff; she's always worried about the other kids. She wouldn't be sick if she never came to this stupid place, but she came because she knew we needed her help. She never thought about what she wanted," he then chucked his lightsaber across the room in anger. "She never does!"

"Because she cares," said Izzy. "She knew what she was getting into when she came with us. She wanted to help."

"She's a kid!" Tai screeched, echoing through the entire cathedral. "I'm her big brother! I'm supposed to look after her, protect her, and think of what's best for her. That's what I'm supposed to do, damn it! And I couldn't do it!"

Tai was spilling his guts out as he sobbed into the ground. He knew he could never be like his sister; never blaming others for their mistakes and trying to be strong for her family. When Tai calmed down a little from the crying, Izzy finally got to speak.

"Maybe this is your chance to be there for her when you couldn't be there before," he said. "Stop blaming yourself and keep fighting for her. That's the only way we are going to survive this. She needs you right now."

That seemed to do the trick as Tai wiped the last remnants of tears from his eyes. He took several deep breaths until he finally calmed down enough. Izzy was right. The group was counting on him to be their leader, and here he was crying like a little kid. Kari's health was more important than anything right now.

"You're right," he nodded confidently. "Let's do this. We've got to get this medicine back to Kari."

"And I think I have a plan to get us out," Izzy added with a devious smile.

* * *

"We're going to do what?" Tai asked, wanting to be sure he heard right.

Izzy took a deep breath before explaining his plan a second time. "I'm going to log back into the network. Since we know they are tracking us, I'm going to mask our location and make them think we're somewhere else in the city. While they are distracted, we will make a run back for the house before they realize we're gone."

He tapped a few keys on his computer and in an instant the screen lit up with multiple locations pinpointed on the map. The blue points, which symbolized the enemy Digimon, did not move. Izzy then packed his computer back in his bag before the two of them headed for the door.

"That ought to keep them busy for a while," he said.

"I hope you're right," Tai returned as they barged through the cathedral doors and out into the street.

' _Here I come, Kari. I'm on my way.'_

The two boys ran through the city streets like their lives depended on it. In a way, their lives did depend on them successfully returning to the house before the enemy Digimon figured out they were being conned. The streets were completely deserted, almost deathly quiet. For some reason, Tai started to get a bad feeling that something was about to happen.

"You feel that?" he said to Izzy as they hid behind the corner of a building.

The red-haired Jedi nodded. "Yeah, I do. And they're heading this way."

Up in the sky, two dragon-like creatures hovered across the rooftops and skyscrapers like impending doom waiting to swoop down and destroy them. One was grey and blue with razor sharp teeth while the other was auburn on top with a cream underbelly. It didn't look like they were searching for Tai and Izzy, but the way they were flying did not signal that they were out for a lovely stroll either.

Suddenly, the two creatures launched rockets from their metallic pincer-like appendages. Eruptions exploded across the rooftops as a building collapsed to the ground. This continued until the entire downtown area was nearly leveled to the ground.

"Looks like we have nothing to worry about," Tai smirked. "Those guys can't even aim properly."

Izzy was not so convinced. He suddenly realized what they were up to.

"I don't think they're attacking us, Tai," he said. "They're just going to mow down the entire city until they do find us. Looks like my plan didn't work after all. We have to get out of here."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

They made a run for the house with newfound determination to get there at all costs before the dragons found them. Izzy was having a hard time keeping up with the brown-haired leader, even with the Force giving him an extra boost. He could blame that on Tai being an in-shape soccer player he guessed.

"Tai, wait up a second!" he cried, gasping to get his breath back.

"No time, Izzy! Let's go!"

Above them, the auburn-scaled dragon creature surged on by them with its sights set up ahead. It didn't notice them, but the direction it was going was cause for alarm. That was where the house that TK and the girls were in was at.

' _Kari!'_ Tai pushed himself harder to reach the house before the creature did. After a quarter mile of nonstop sprinting, the two Jedi finally reached it. Everything seemed okay; the lawn was freshly cut, the façade still looked spick and span.

A smile finally spread up Tai's face as he caught his breath.

"We made it," Izzy gasped as he fell to his knees, heaving desperately to get air to his lungs.

"We're back, Kari!" Tai cried as he ran towards the door. Before he could get too close, a missile dove down from the sky and collided with the roof. Fire shot out in all directions as the explosion sent Tai flying back three feet to the ground. When he picked himself off the ground, he couldn't see anything except for the burning remains of what once stood there.

"No!" Izzy gasped, sensing no sign of the others.

Tai was beside himself with shock and disbelief. Just as it seemed like everything was going to be okay, now it wasn't. He had failed once again.

"KARI!" he screamed. He collapsed to his knees as tears returned to his eyes. "No! This can't be happening! Kari! Don't leave me here like this!"

"What are you talking about, Tai? We're not going anywhere!" a voice from the nearby bushes called out to him. The voice sounded strangely like Sora's.

Three heads popped out from the bushes. Sora, TK, and Kari emerged completely unharmed. The young girl's arms hung around Sora's neck as the auburn-haired Jedi carried her on her back.

Tai sighed in relief after seeing that they were indeed alive. The terror that had gripped his heart just seconds before washed away like a wave on the beach.

"I told you I'd be the man of the house, Tai," TK smiled triumphantly. "When I saw those guys blasting the city down, I made the call for us to get out."

Tai ruffled the boy's head, earning a giggle from him.

"I never doubted you for a minute, TK," he said, returning the smile. He then pulled out the medicine from his pocket and walked over to Kari.

"I'm back, Kari," he murmured, gently caressing her hair. "I'm just going to need you to take two of these. You'll be better before you know it."

She gave him a weak smile as he began to open the bottle. A blast rocked the entire area as the pavement collapsed on itself. Sora and her male comrades activated their lightsabers as Machinedramon emerged from the sewers.

"It's Machinedramon!" Izzy cried, his eyes wide in fright.

Tai realized that they couldn't fight now. Not while Kari was still in her current condition. It was better to save the fight for another time.

"Let's get out of here!" he cried as they scurried off towards the nearest building to hide.

It didn't matter to Machinedramon as he prepared to fire shots from the cannons on his back. A bright light began to build up within the barrels until he finally released them with the energy of ten nuclear blasts.

* * *

 **CLIFFHANGER! What will happen next? Stay tuned to find out next time on 'The Destined Jedi'. We already knew about what happened way back then, but this was the first time Tai has been open about it to anyone. Izzy seems to be the one Tai opens up to the best. That'll be important in the future in terms of finding out secrets ;-)**

 **I have three younger sisters, so I can definitely relate to the turmoil that Tai went through that entire episode. Finally, Biyomon and Agumon get some face time after the forest episodes. I know you guys probably don't mind, but I think I've given Gomamon a disproportionate amount of the appearances. What can I say? I love Gomamon XD**

 **As always, leave a review and make sure to subscribe to the story if you haven't already. Like I said, we are getting down towards the last few chapters. It'll be done by the end of next month if I keep at this current pace. Have a great weekend and blessed week, everybody, and I'll see you all next weekend. Under moon and sky.**


	44. The Jedi of Light

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: I had a feeling you would say that XD**

 **Music Chick: It's one of the best things about him, and is the reason why he makes such a great leader.**

 **Special thanks to soundwavecon202 for the favorite and follow. You rock, dude!**

* * *

 **What's up, guys? I'm so sorry for not getting this out yesterday. I had a week you would not believe: so much to do and so little time to balance it all out. Better I get this out a day late than to not get it out for a while. I promise it will make up for my absence. You guys know how hard I push myself to get these chapters out in a timely manner so I was pretty angry with myself.**

 **Anyway, excuse my little excuse. The Jedi were blasted to kingdom come by Machinedramon last time. Did they make it? Find out now! Also, a familiar face makes his return.**

* * *

Kari was woken up by a cold splashing against her cheek.

She groaned slightly as her eyes began to flutter open. The first thing she noticed when she woke up was not feeling weak and dizzy anymore. Her fever must have broken. A bright light shined in her face, causing her to bring her hand up to shield her eyes. Foul smells overwhelmed her senses as everything started to become clear.

The last thing she remembered was Machinedramon firing at her and the others of her group from his cannons and falling through a gaping hole in the ground. She screamed for Tai to help her, but he and Izzy were falling a few feet away from her, too far for him to grab her hand. Then everything went black, almost like she had died.

As she sat up, Kari began to take in her surroundings. The overpowering smell was the sewer water, running through the pipe right next to where she lay on a bed of moss. Her head had been supported by what felt like a backpack. The rays of sunshine from the surface above gave a small bit of light to the otherwise dark sewer.

"Good, you're awake."

Kari peered to her right and saw TK watching over her like a hawk. She looked behind her to see that his backpack had served as a makeshift pillow for her.

"How are you feeling?" the blonde boy asked.

"A little better," Kari replied. "I think my fever's gone. How long was I out, TK?"

"You were out for quite a while. I'm not sure how long it was, but it was long enough to make me think you were dead for a second."

The girl noticed that no one else was with them. The two youngest Destined Jedi were alone in the sewer, at least that's what it looked like. Kari could sense someone was nearby, but couldn't pinpoint exactly who it was.

"Where's everybody else?" she asked.

TK shrugged. "I'm not sure. Hopefully somebody finds us before Machinedramon does." He then smiled at her. "Don't worry. If it comes to that, I promise I'll protect you."

Footsteps echoed nearby. Due to how dark it was, they couldn't see who was coming towards them. Thankfully, it wasn't Machinedramon because his footsteps would have echoed loudly. These ones sounded smaller.

"TK! Kari!" Sora's voice echoed.

"Sora! We're here!" TK cried in response, hoping to guide her towards them.

The auburn-haired Jedi emerged from the darkness and into the light. Her dark red yukata and face had some noticeable grime and dirt stains from the sewer, but she was unharmed. Sora sighed in relief when she saw the two of them were okay.

"There you guys are," she smiled at them. "You feeling better, Kari? You look night and day compared to a little while ago."

Kari nodded as the older girl bent down to check on her. "Yes."

Sora examined Kari over just to be absolutely sure. The girl's eyes were brighter, her cheeks glowing in perfect health, and the heat that had been radiating from her earlier had cooled down to a normal temperature.

"You're picture perfect," the auburn-haired Jedi smiled at her. "Glad to see that. Right now, we need to find Tai and Izzy. I tried looking, but didn't find them. They must have landed somewhere nearby; I can sense them."

"What if Machinedramon finds us?" asked TK. "Then what will we do?"

Sora ruffled his head. "Don't worry about that, TK," she said. "No matter what happens, stay with me. I won't let anything happen to the two of you."

She then remembered something.

"Oh, I almost forgot," Sora reached into her pocket and grabbed the bottle of medicine that Tai previously had before handing it to Kari. She had found it when she went searching for him and Izzy. "I found this. Since you're better now, Kari, it won't be much use. Maybe you can use it as a reminder of how much Tai loves you."

Kari happily nodded before pocketing the medicine.

* * *

Izzy was slightly unnerved by the dark silence of the sewer. Not only were there more foul smells than he could handle, but the possibility that something could be stalking he and Tai was too high to ignore. With Machinedramon on the loose, they couldn't take any risks of it finding them. They wouldn't stand a chance against the behemoth.

The sounds of water dripping echoed loudly as the two Jedi navigated their way through the dark, damp corridors to try and find their missing comrades. With Kari being sick, Tai was willing to do whatever it took to find them. Her wellbeing was most important right now and nothing was going to stop him.

' _Hold on, Kari,'_ Tai reached out with the Force, hoping she would hear him. _'I'll be with you soon. Don't you worry about a thing.'_

"Tai, I have a bad feeling about this," Izzy whispered, but due to the concrete walls around them it echoed across the corridor.

"I don't sense anything, Izzy," Tai replied. "Don't get your imagination worked up. There's nothing down here except for us."

"It's not about that. It's about the fact that we're in a dark sewer with Machinedramon possibly looking for us. What are we going to do if he finds us or the others? We're sitting ducks."

Tai rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for paranoid delusions. Finding Kari and the others mattered more to him at the moment than anything else.

"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it," he said. "Right now, we need to find the others. Once we do that, then we'll worry about Machinedramon."

Izzy saw it was pointless to argue with Tai, so he just kept his mouth shut as the two of them continued walking in the darkness.

* * *

"Wait a minute," Sora stuck her hand up to signal TK and Kari to halt.

"What's wrong, Sora?" TK whispered, wondering if Machinedramon had finally found them.

"Can you hear that?"

Sora held her breath in for as long as she could in order to listen carefully. She thought she had heard something a second ago. It sounded like churning wheels and other active machinery were working close by. It wasn't Machinedramon, but what could it be?

"I hear something up ahead," she quietly replied. "Let's go see what it is."

The three Destined Jedi moved swiftly and silently through the corridor like shadows. A few yards away, the sound of machines grew louder and louder. When they got closer, new sounds could be heard.

"WORK!" a voice roared, followed by the sound of a whip cracking. This only made the Jedi run faster. Whatever was going on, it did not sound good.

They could not believe their eyes when they ran through a doorway opening out to a balcony. For TK and Sora, they were reminded of the factory that the group had walked into their first few days in the Digital World. Machinery was littered around the entire room, steam rose as pistons pumped with the power of ten horses. Wheels spun round and round, like ones in a gristmill.

What horrified the group even more was who were operating the machinery. Small green, slug-like Digimon were pushing themselves ragged to keep the machines going, even though they were completely exhausted. Whenever they would slow down, they would be met with the crack of a whip, forcing them to carry on.

The owner of the whip was a large, black stuffed bear that looked like the teddy bear version of Chucky. Stitches covered its body from a lifetime of battles, a red cape flowed behind it, and its red eyes glowed with cruelty and hatred. One appendage was tipped with razor sharp claws, while the other was like a regular teddy bear's. In this factory, it was the overseer and the slugs were its slaves.

"Keep moving!" the bear shouted, hurting three of the slugs at once with a snap of its whip. "Lord Machinedramon needs your useless bodies to power his city! Work! I command you to work!"

The Destined Jedi could hardly believe what they were seeing. The sight was so horrible that tears started to fall from Kari's eyes because of it. Since she was sensitive to the suffering of others, it hurt her to see these poor Digimon being treated this way.

"This is awful," Sora gasped in a hushed voice, not wanting to let the bear know they were there. "We have to save them."

"But how?" TK asked.

A bright pink light glowed nearby, causing the two Jedi to shield their eyes. The light did not go unnoticed by the slugs as they ceased their work to look up in awe. TK and Sora saw that Kari was the cause of it. The symbol on her arm glowed brightly as the machinery came to a screeching halt.

"Kari. Kari. Kari," the slugs chanted as they gazed upon the light in reverence. Kari's legs then gave out when a dizzy spell overcame her. The light of her symbol continued to glow brightly.

"Hey! What's going on?" the bear cried before whipping the slugs. "Get back to work now!"

"That's enough!" Sora said, finally getting its attention. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size for a change?"

The bear narrowed its eyes as it gazed upon them. "You must be the Destined Jedi. Lord Machinedramon will be much pleased if I destroy you for him."

"We'll see about that," TK responded before activating his lightsaber. Sora followed right after him. "Let these Digimon go now!"

"I can't do that. Lord Machinedramon needs these useless Numemon to power his city."

Without another word, the overseer charged right for the two Jedi. TK and Sora turned back to run through the doorway before it could catch up to them. They could hear the bear following in hot pursuit of them as Sora struggled to come up with a plan of attack.

"What do we do?" TK cried as he ran as fast as his little legs could carry him.

"I'm working on it!"

Sora wracked her brain for a solution to their problem. The two of them could stand and fight, but due to how big the bear was and it just being her and TK, they probably wouldn't have stood much of a chance.

A wall came up to meet them dead in the face, blocking any chance of escape.

"Now I've got you!" the bear smirked victoriously. With its clawed arm, it lunged forward to try and skewer the two Jedi. At the last minute, TK and Sora jumped out of the way and the claw sank into the wall. It tried to yank them out but they wouldn't budge.

Sora looked over at TK. A smirk rose up on his face.

"Let's show this overgrown teddy bear who's boss," he said.

She nodded. "You've got it."

Sora stretched out her hand and used the Force to send the wall crumbling on top of the bear. Underneath all the rubble, the bear was more enraged than before as it emerged with the intent to kill.

"That's it! Now you are going to get it!" the bear roared as it charged right for the Jedi.

Sora swung her lightsaber up defensively to block the metallic claws that came her way. Unlike most of the other creatures they had encountered, the attack did not dismember them. The bear used her shock to its advantage. With one kick, it sent her skidding across the floor.

TK then came charging in to distract it before the bear could do anything more to Sora. With one swipe of his lightsaber, a large gash spread across its side. Stuffing spilled out as the bear tried to blunt the damage. This only made it angrier.

"You little runt!" it growled as it unleashed its whip, cracking it towards the boy.

TK used his lightsaber to repel the attack. He couldn't stand in the same spot for much longer; eventually he would be caught, so he used acrobatics to dodge every lash that came his way. The chase morphed into a game of cat and mouse as the bear's lashes missed their target every time.

Before TK started to run out of room to jump, several small green bodies flew past him and attached themselves to the bear. It swatted them away like fruit flies, but more would simply latch on after a few fell off. Upon a closer look, the blonde-haired Jedi saw that they were the slug creatures that Kari had freed.

"Show him what you're made of, Numemon," Kari's voice echoed through the room as the pink light from her symbol glowed brightly. "Show WaruMonzaemon exactly what you are capable of when you fight together."

The slugs continued launching themselves at their former overseer until they completely overran him. TK and Sora used the distraction from the Numemon to regroup and plan a better way to take out WaruMonzaemon together.

Before they could say anything, Kari stepped in front of them to cut off their path.

"Let me handle this," she said confidently, activating her blue lightsaber. "What WaruMonzaemon has done is unforgivable. It's up to me to ensure that justice falls upon him."

TK looked up at Sora, unsure of what to do. Kari hadn't undergone all the training that the two of them had, so he was worried about her being able to do this by herself. Maybe it would be better if they helped her. But the auburn-haired girl nodded with assurance, letting him know that it was okay.

"Have at it, Kari," he said as he and Sora stepped back, allowing her to do whatever she wanted.

WaruMonzaemon sneered as the small girl stood defiantly in front of him. This was the best that the Destined Jedi could do? Well, it just made things all the more fun for him. This little Jedi was going to pay for freeing the Numemon from their chains.

"This is the best the Destined Jedi could send?" the bear laughed. "The cute little girl is about to come and destroy me. I'm so scared."

Kari frowned at his sarcastic remark. The whole time she had been in the Digital World thus far, she hadn't had much of a chance to do anything. This was her chance to prove to the others and herself that she could be useful to the team.

"Don't underestimate what you don't know," she replied as she raised her hand. A huge burst of energy erupted from her palm and sent WaruMonzaemon flying against another brick wall. The bear struggled to move, but the amount of force pressing against him prevented any significant movement.

"What are you doing?" he cried. "Let me go!"

But Kari did not let up in her attack. She continued to keep him pressed against the wall. The Numemon began to crawl up WaruMonzaemon's legs like termites gathering on wood. The bear desperately tried to kick them off, but they would multiply en masse whenever a few would fly off. Soon, they completely overwhelmed him as he let out feared cries that echoed through the entire underground.

"Don't look, TK." Sora covered TK's eyes so that he didn't have to see what was happening. After the Numemon climbed off, the wall was completely bare. WaruMonzaemon had been destroyed.

The Numemon bowed and reverently chanted, "Queen Kari," before Kari as the pink light of her symbol started to dim slightly.

"You're safe now, Numemon," she said, giving the pack of slugs an assuring smile. "Your slavery has ended now. Go in peace."

The slugs bowed thankfully before scattering in all directions, happy to finally be free. TK and Sora watched in awe at how Kari handled this whole thing by herself. She was growing right before their eyes. If Tai had been there, he would have been proud of her.

"Way to go, Kari!" TK exclaimed.

"Tai would be proud of you if he were here to see this," Sora added, sounding just as proud of the young girl. "Nice work."

Kari turned to look down a pathway. She sensed the presence of two other Jedi down there, possibly Tai and Izzy.

"Tai and Izzy are this way," she said as she took two steps down the path. "My light will guide us to them. Let's go. We don't have much time before Machinedramon finds us."

TK and Sora were unsure if she was right for a second, but after sensing Force energy that way followed without question. They hoped that it was indeed their comrades because for some reason a chill ran up their spines.

* * *

"Kari! Kari, where are you?" Tai called as his voice echoed off the sewer walls. He and Izzy had been walking non-stop for the last thirty minutes and still hadn't found any trace of the others. Not even a whiff of Force energy could be sensed.

The only light to guide them in the dark was the bright green glow of Izzy's lightsaber, covering everything in green light. The computer genius was about to collapse from exhaustion due to how long they had been walking. He needed to take a break.

He sat down on the ground with his knees curled up into his chest to try and soothe his aching feet. Izzy hadn't rested two seconds before Tai turned around and glared at him.

"What are you doing?" he chastised. "This is no time to take a break, Izzy! We have to find the others."

"We've been walking non-stop for the past half hour and my feet are killing me," Izzy shot back. "Call me crazy, but I think we should rest for a second. The others can wait just a little while longer."

But Tai was not having it.

"No! Don't you understand, Kari's sick! We have to find her!" he roared, his eyes narrowing in annoyance.

"I know that, Tai, but Kari's not here right now."

"That's my point! We have to find her now!"

Izzy realized that Matt was right a while back when he said that there was no reasoning with Tai until he finally got his way. Well, this time he was not going to give in so easily. He was tired and wanted to rest for a few minutes. Was that too much to ask?

He pointed his lightsaber at the brunette. "You better stop ordering me around, Tai, or else."

Tai finally flipped his lid. The combination of being worried sick about Kari and irritated at Izzy for refusing to do what he said drowned out anything the rational part of his brain was saying. He ignited his lightsaber and surprised Izzy with a leaping strike. Izzy blocked the attack just in time before Tai could scar him like he did with Matt.

"Or else what?!" Tai roared as the two tested each other's strength in a saber lock.

Izzy's temporary bravado disappeared the instant he saw the fire in the leader's eyes. He had walked into something he couldn't get himself out of, which went against his nature.

"I didn't actually plan on something after 'or else'," he said. "I just thought it sounded tough."

This only infuriated Tai even more as he put all of his strength into pushing Izzy back to break the lock.

"You want tough? Here's tough!" he said before launching his fist towards Izzy's nose. The punch landed with such power that it knocked Izzy to the ground. Blood flowed freely from his nose as he dropped his lightsaber.

Tai raised his lightsaber over his head to do even more damage, but a sound stopped him from doing that. It sounded like footsteps that weren't there their own, and they sounded mechanical.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered.

"All I hear is my head pounding," Izzy groaned in pain as he held his nose to try and stem the blood that continued to ooze down. "You sure did a number on me, Tai."

"Shut up," Tai hissed, covering Izzy's mouth. "Something's coming. I think it might be Machinedramon. We have to hide."

The mechanical footsteps grew louder with each passing second. Whatever it was would find them in no time if the two Jedi did not find somewhere to hide. A nearby doorway provided the perfect place to hide, so the two sought refuge there.

Tai let out shaky breaths that echoed loudly across the sewer. Rather than risk blowing their cover, he covered his mouth. It sounded like the Terminator was coming to get them.

"What do we do?" Izzy whispered.

"If it's Machinedramon, we'll jump out and attack right when he passes by," Tai replied.

Izzy nodded as the two Jedi waited to make their move. After a few seconds, the footsteps were right upon them. It was time to act.

Tai and Izzy stormed out of the doorway with grunts of determination as they activated their lightsabers, ready to destroy the mysterious figure. The sight of a familiar face, along with the electric end of a staff in their faces, stopped them dead in their tracks.

"A-Andromon?" Tai breathed as he diffused his lightsaber, which Izzy copied.

"Destined Jedi," the android replied in greeting, turning his electro-staff away from them before deactivating it. "Greetings. It has been a long time."

"I'll say it has," said Izzy. "Not since we saved you from the Black Gear's influence on File Island. What are you doing here? We thought you were Machinedramon."

"I heard rumors that there were Digimon living underground that had fled the city's destruction," Andromon explained. "In order to combat Machinedramon, I hoped to find them and encourage them to work with me. So far, I haven't had any luck finding anything until I found you two. I thought you were spies for Machinedramon."

"Don't worry. We're nothing of the sort," Tai chuckled before getting to more important matters. "You haven't seen Sora and TK have you? My sister Kari is with them."

A sparkle of recognition flashed in Andromon's eyes after hearing that.

"You mean Queen Kari is your sister?" he asked.

"Queen?" Tai and Izzy both replied with confusion. They wondered what that was all about. All of a sudden, they both sensed Force energy nearby. It could be their long-lost friends.

Just as they did, large footsteps echoed through the sewer. The three turned to look behind them and Tai and Izzy almost screamed. Andromon reactivated the electric ends of his staff.

Machinedramon burst through a wall and stared menacingly at them. Finally, it had found two of the Destined Jedi. This time, it was not going to let them escape so easily.

"Go! I'll hold him off!" Andromon ordered the two boys as he charged right for the Digimon that looked like a two-ton tank.

Tai and Izzy didn't know what to do. While their first instinct was to run like Andromon said, they couldn't leave him to fight Machinedramon all by himself. There was no way he could win. They watched as Andromon used his electro-staff to keep the hulking metal menace at bay, jabbing it whenever it tried to attack.

"Hold on, Andromon!" Tai cried as he and Izzy activated their lightsabers. "We're coming in!"

"No! Don't!" the android cried, but it was too late. The boys rushed towards the two robotic Digimon.

Machinedramon turned away from Andromon for a second to see the two Jedi. It fired two shots from its cannons at the ground in front of Tai and Izzy. The sheer brightness from the attack caused them to shield their eyes and turn away before the debris and rock shot up from the ground.

"Lousy aim is not going to do you much help!" Tai shouted as he and Izzy prepared to attack.

But Machinedramon had vanished. The sewer went silent once again, with only drips echoing softly on the air. For some reason, the sewer seemed darker than it ever had before.

"What happened?" Izzy wondered.

"Machinedramon has fled," said Andromon. "But don't let your guard down. I know he is nearby."

"Where?" Tai whispered, turning his head in all directions in search of the metal menace.

"I don't know."

Silently as shadows, the three tentatively walked down the corridor while keeping close watch of what was ahead of them. If so much as a digital rat scurried by, it was a cause for suspicion. The humming of lightsabers and the electric buzzing from Andromon's staff filled the air around them.

After walking a few yards, a loud crashing sound made Tai and Izzy nearly jump out of their skin.

"W-What was that?" Tai almost squeaked as he held his saber pointed up and close to his body.

Izzy tried to control his fear as he replied, "I-I-I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for this."

"It could be Machinedramon," Andromon said quietly. "Be on your guard, Destined Jedi."

The trio inched forward down the corridor, keeping their eyes and ears peeled for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Water continued to drip down from the ceiling. A gust of wind blew ominously down the passage.

Tai's heart pounded painfully in his chest like he had run for ten miles straight. His terror rose as they came to a fork in the sewer. Izzy raised his hand to feel which way they should go.

"Wait," said Tai. He noticed something was right behind him.

He slowly turned. He screamed and fell back when he locked eyes with someone.

Izzy and Andromon turned at the speed of a bullet, ready to take down what Tai had seen.

"What are you guys doing? Trying to give us a heart attack?"

Tai finally settled down and held up his saber to give more light. Sora lay on the ground just across from him, TK and Kari stood right behind her.

"Sora, it's you," he sighed with relief. "Thank goodness. We thought you were Machinedramon for a second. Was that you that made the crashing sound?"

"Yeah," the auburn-haired Jedi nodded before turning to glare at TK playfully. "Because someone thought it would be a good idea to let the whole sewer know we were here."

"Tai!"

"Kari!" Tai's face brightened instantly as Kari ran towards him. Once she got to him, he picked her up and swung her around before holding her close to him. Just knowing that she was safe was enough to make tears fall from his eyes. The siblings giggled in their embrace.

"You're safe," he smiled in relief.

"Yep," Kari nodded confidently, giving her brother an adorable smile. "And I feel all better now. I'm not sick anymore."

Upon closer inspection, Tai saw that she was right. He couldn't feel her burning up from ten feet away, her eyes were bright and filled with life. She was in picture-perfect health.

While the Kamiya siblings got reacquainted with each other, Sora went over to Izzy and talked about what happened while they were separated.

"So you guys found Machinedramon?" she asked.

"More like it found us," Izzy chuckled nervously while scratching his head. "It disappeared after we briefly engaged it."

Unbeknownst to the two Jedi, as they continued talking, something navigated through the darkness above them with the stealth of a snake slithering across a tree branch. A mechanical arm with a deadly claw at the end of it dangled from the ceiling in the shadows before slowly moving towards Izzy.

"Once we find Machinedramon, what are we going to do next?" said Sora.

"Obviously we need to find a way to defeat it, but how we're going to do that, I'm not sure." Izzy replied.

Sora's face suddenly morphed into one of terror. Her eyes widened and her face paled considerably. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"Sora? Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Izzy," she said hoarsely, pointing a shaking finger to something behind him. "Behind you!"

The Jedi of Knowledge slowly turned, but he was too late to react as the claw grabbed him and threw him clear across the sewer. A splash rang out like a gun shot as Izzy landed in the water.

Before any of the Jedi realized what had happened, the ceiling collapsed and to their horror, Machinedramon stood before them. The Jedi quickly sprang into action as Tai and Sora activated their lightsabers.

"I'll take care of him!" Sora ordered Tai. "You get TK and Kari somewhere safe."

"You've got it!" he replied, immediately escorting the two youngest Jedi away as Sora and Andromon engaged the hulking metal Digimon. A crease in the wall seemed like the perfect place to hide.

"You two stay put," he instructed. "We'll handle this."

TK and Kari glared at him in protest.

"Come on, Tai! We can fight!" TK exclaimed.

"Yeah! You let us help you when we defeated Puppetmon!" added Kari.

"That was different," Tai growled in frustration. "Machinedramon is unlike any opponent we've faced. Let us handle it."

"We're not helpless!" Kari shot back, surprising her brother and TK with how loud she said it. "You may think I need protecting all the time, but I don't! I'm a Jedi just like you, Tai. I'm not going to sit back and hide when the fate of the Digital World is on the line. Please, let us help you."

To say that Tai was shocked by Kari's words was an understatement. Never before had she spoken in that manner with him before, not even during a rare argument they would have. Kari was always the passive, go-along-to-get-along kind of girl, but now she had changed.

' _This must have been how Matt felt,'_ he realized with horror. The realization that Kari was growing up before his eyes allowed him to finally understand what had been eating at Matt lately.

"Tai! A little help here please!" Sora cried as she dodged a swiping claw. Izzy had jumped in to help, his green lightsaber becoming a speeding blur.

After a few moments of intense thinking and weighing the situation, Tai finally conceded with a deep sigh.

"Okay, you guys can help," he said. "But stay close to me."

TK and Kari both nodded, activating their lightsabers. Tai followed and the three Jedi jumped in to help their comrades.

Tai leaped into the air to unleash a barrage of strikes aimed right for Machinedramon's metal body. The saber sliced through the metal armor like a hot knife through butter, earning roars of pain from the metal behemoth. Machinedramon used its other claw to grab Tai and press him down into the concrete ground.

"Hold on, Tai!" Andromon cried as he shoved an electric end of his staff into Machinedramon's claw, but was knocked away with the other one.

Tai used the distraction to push it off with his legs. He tumbled backwards to rise up to his feet. Looking to his right, he saw Andromon's staff resting on the ground. An idea suddenly came to his head.

With Machinedramon distracted by Izzy and Sora, Tai dove for the staff and activated the electric ends.

"Hey, metal head!" he roared. "I'm not through with you yet!"

Machinedramon glared at him before firing two shots from its cannons. Tai barely dodged them as the ceiling completely caved in from the shockwaves. Sunlight poured into the sewer blindingly.

Tai dodged a claw as he ran for the behemoth's foot, sticking Andromon's staff into it. Machinedramon roared in pain before kicking the Jedi of Courage into a concrete wall.

As Tai recovered from the attack, Machinedramon's knife-like claws came careening towards his face. At the last second, he ducked out of the way and the claws were lodged into the concrete. Using his lightsaber this time, he dismembered the claws from Machinedramon's arm.

The Dark Master unleashed a roar of pain so loud that the Jedi had to cover their ears. Its roar sounded like a scream from another world.

"Get him, guys!" Tai ordered.

Izzy and Sora joined together to use their combined power in bringing Machinedramon to the ground with the Force. Before anyone could do anything else, small green forms began to emerge from the water and overwhelm Machinedramon.

"Numemon!" Kari exclaimed, happy to see the slugs return to help them.

Sadly, it did not last long as Machinedramon stood up, annoyed at this nuisance. With one blast of its cannon, all of the Numemon were disintegrated into data.

"NO!" Kari screamed, tears beginning to pool in her eyes after seeing the slug Digimon get destroyed. Even though she barely knew them for a short while, she had grown attached to them.

"Kari, watch out!" Tai cried as Machinedramon aimed its one remaining claw at her.

The Jedi of Courage dove on top of his sister in the nick of time as the claw drove itself into the ground. He kicked it with all the strength he could, but quickly realized that had been a bad idea as pain shot through his shin.

"That was stupid! What was I thinking?" he hissed through gritted teeth, rolling around in agony.

Kari screamed as the claw emerged from the ground and aimed itself right for them. She quickly looked around for something to use. Andromon's staff was still sparking so she grabbed it and stuck it into the claw to keep it at bay.

Tai finally recovered from the excruciating pain that had immobilized him briefly. The first thing that stood out to him was Kari pressing Andromon's staff into Machinedramon's claw. It was a strange reversal of roles: she was protecting him this time. He then saw Machinedramon's foot come at her.

"Look out!" he said before using his lightsaber to slice the foot off, disintegrating it into data. Machinedramon fell to its knees. Finally seeing his chance, Tai leapt up into the air holding his saber like a bayonet and plunged it into Machinedramon's chest.

The mechanical beast let out a strangled cry before finally dissolving into small particles of data. When that happened, the ground began to shake as if an earthquake were now occurring. But the Jedi knew that wasn't what was happening.

"Machinedramon's city is dissolving," said Andromon as he took his staff back.

"Let's get out of here!" Tai ordered as he carried Kari on his back. Sora carried TK on hers. The five Jedi and the android ran out of the sewer, but realized that they didn't have anywhere to go. Eventually the dissolving city would catch up with them.

' _Biyomon, I need you,'_ Sora thought, reaching out to her guardian with the Force. ' _Become Birdramon and get us out of here.'_

The group continued running as fast as they could while the disintegrating ground began to catch up to them. If something didn't happen soon, they would be kept in a dimensional limbo.

The cry of a bird above them, however, gave new hope as Birdramon swooped down to them.

"Someone order an evacuation?" she asked. "Jump on."

The five Jedi quickly leapt onto the bird's back. If Birdramon hadn't shown up, they would have been hit in the face with a dead end. They watched as the city finally disappeared into nothing down below.

"Nice work, Birdramon," Sora said appreciatively, stroking the plum of feathers on her neck. Izzy and Tai laid flat on their backs from exhaustion.

The top of Spiral Mountain loomed ahead like an evil castle in old horror movies. The Jedi knew that this was where their last and greatest test awaited them. It was going to take all of their strength, determination, and heart to defeat Piedmon.

* * *

 **Now that three Dark Masters have been destroyed, will the Destined Jedi succeed in their mission to defeat them all? Find out on the next 'Destined Jedi'.**

 **Whew! Of all the three fights with the Dark Masters, I think that this is the best one I have done so far. Machinedramon's death in the show was pretty anticlimactic, in my honest opinion. Kari is slowly developing as the story has progressed, another thing I wanted to change from the show. She basically stayed the same for the most part and didn't get many chances to develop like TK did. Hope you guys enjoyed it and it was worth waiting the extra day.**

 **As always, leave a review and subscribe because you do not want to miss the battle with Piedmon. See you guys next week and I promise the chapter will be out on time. Have a good week, you guys ;-)**

 **Oh, and one other thing, Music Chick finally had her baby so a big congrats to her.**


	45. Primary Village

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: It's okay. Everyone has their style of storytelling.**

 **Music Chick: Glad to know everything went well. I'm sure it is :) Happy to see that you liked what I did. I wanted things to be a bit more suspenseful than they were in the series, which is why I did this reboot in the first place.**

 **UncleNyce: Well you certainly live up to your name. Thank you for the kind words.**

* * *

 **I am so sorry for not updating last week, you guys. I was away at my last swim meet ever all week and in-between sessions I was more resting and reading than I was writing. I also was at an impasse for what to do about a certain character in this chapter. You'll see what I decided here pretty soon. Anyway, that is my apology to you all and I promise to never do that again. We are almost to the end and I don't want to fall apart after being so punctual for the past almost year on my updates. Enjoy the chapter you have waited two weeks for.**

* * *

' _So they've succeeded,'_ thought Matt as he opened his eyes after sensing Machinedramon had been defeated. His vision was slightly blurred as they adjusted to the darkness around him after being closed for so long. _'Only one more to go.'_

The blonde-haired Jedi had gone back to the cave Gennai took the group to on their first day of training in order to meditate. The soothing power of the Force surrounded him as he entered a two-day long deep meditation. He didn't have to eat, sleep, or drink because the Force sustained him during that time.

Even with this period, he still had not discovered his true purpose of being a Destined Jedi. Until he did, he was not going to return to the others. They didn't need to be brought down by his moodiness and pessimism, he thought. It was better if he went out on his own for a while.

' _What is my purpose here?'_ he wondered. _'All this time, I thought it was to protect TK and keep anything from happening to him. But he's proven to be a far better Jedi than I could ever hope to be. He doesn't need me to baby him anymore.'_

"You don't give yourself enough credit for the things you have done, Matt."

Matt turned to his left as he wondered who had spoken to him. Judging by the voice, he should have known it was someone familiar. Someone he had not heard from in a long time.

"Gabumon," he breathed as the wolf-like Digimon stumbled over before sitting down in front of him. Even through the darkness, he could see the scar that graced Matt's right eye. "What are you doing here?"

"I have come to help set things right," Gabumon replied, looking at Matt with a sympathetic gaze. "Why are you here by yourself?"

The blonde turned away from his guardian to stare at the glowing crystals in the cave. He didn't know how he could explain the things he had done over the last few days. It was too shameful to talk about.

"Because I don't know who I am anymore," he muttered. "A Destined Jedi? Ha, that's a laugh. I haven't been a very good one lately."

"Don't say-" Gabumon started to say before Matt interrupted him.

"I tried to kill Tai!" he shouted. "And now I have this stupid scar on my face to remind me of that. I'm not worthy of being the Jedi of Friendship."

The two sat in silence for what felt like hours as Matt cried softly. Gabumon felt bad for the boy. He had gone through so much hurt and anguish since he and the others returned. Matt had finally reached his breaking point.

"Remember what I said to you in the forest?" the wolf finally asked. "That I chose to guide you because of what was in your heart. Matt, you are perfectly worthy of being the Jedi of Friendship. Don't let a few bumps in the road stop you."

Matt ignored him as he continued to weep into his knees. After several minutes of this, he finally managed to establish some form of control over his emotions.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this alone," he said.

"You aren't alone, Matt. The others would help you if you just gave them a chance."

"I'm not even sure they would take me back. Not after what I did. I don't know what else to do."

From out of the darkness, a new yet familiar voice called out to him.

"The answers are all inside of you, Matt."

Matt turned at the sound of the voice. He couldn't believe it as he saw a new figure appear from the depths of the cave.

"Gennai," he gasped, completely stupefied at what he was seeing.

Outlined in blue light with a heavenly glow, the old man smiled at Matt as he lightly walked around him. Matt could still see the glow of the crystals in the cave through Gennai, reinforcing the fact that he was indeed a ghost.

Gabumon was thankful to have another voice of reason to help him get through to Matt.

"I'm glad you're here, Gennai," said the wolf Digimon. "We have a big problem on our hands."

"I can see that, Gabumon," Gennai nodded before turning back to Matt. "I know what is ailing you, Matt, but I would prefer it if you told me yourself."

Matt was still too stunned by Gennai's appearance to say anything. How was this even possible? He was supposed to be dead. Matt and the other Jedi saw Piedmon plunge his lightsaber into Gennai's chest.

"H-H-How?" he finally said, sounding like he had laryngitis.

Gennai snickered again when he realized what Matt was referring to.

"The Force works in many ways, Matt," he said. "For those that have moved on, they become one with the living Force and can manifest themselves into forms such as the one you see before you. I had been studying about this during the years between when the first Destined Jedi left to when you all arrived. Now tell me what the problem is."

Matt spun on his behind to look the other way. He didn't know if he could look Gennai in the eye anymore after all the things he had done over the last couple of days.

"I…don't know…what I'm doing here," he said slowly, letting himself know the truth as well. "I haven't been the best Jedi lately. Ever since Piedmon killed you, it feels like something inside of me just broke. With you around, I knew that I could find any answer to my problems, but without you I became lost and confused. It was like I had once again lost someone close to me."

Gennai said nothing as Matt continued opening up to him.

"I gave in to the dark side and almost killed Tai as a result," Matt gently rubbed the scar over his eye. "I've been so lost that I had to leave the group to find myself. I'm not worthy of being their friend. Maybe it's best if I just never go back."

Gennai sat down beside him and wrapped an arm around his neck. Even though Matt couldn't physically feel the embrace, he still felt a calming warmth on his neck. It was almost like Gennai had never left in the first place.

"Remember the things that I taught you, Matt," said Gennai. "Learning to rely on others when you need strength is not weakness. You all must rely on each other in order to succeed in your mission. I never said that it would be easy; in fact, I knew that you all would need a break at some point. It's how you responded to it that would have showed me the kind of people you are. You're stronger than you think."

Matt soaked Gennai's words up like a sponge. This was something he desperately needed; to seek advice from someone that he trusted. It didn't matter now whether or not the others would accept him back into the group. What mattered was succeeding in their mission to destroy the Dark Masters and save not only the Digital World, but their own. Matt finally understood the importance of everything that had happened to them thus far.

"But what if-" he began to say.

"You cannot escape your destiny, Matt," Gabumon interrupted. "You must rejoin the others and destroy Piedmon before it is too late. If you refuse, then he will have truly won. The eight of you together are our only hope."

"I can't do it alone."

Gennai gave an exasperated sigh. "You silly boy, you won't be alone. Gabumon and I will always be with you. Now get out there and find the others. That clown has terrorized enough innocent Digimon."

Matt suddenly stood up, catching both the old man and Gabumon by surprise. Matt's gaze stretched far beyond the entrance to the cave. His heart pounded in his chest, almost like it was telling him to go.

He stood silently for several moments before he finally spoke.

"I will not fail you this time," he said quietly before running out of the cave. Gennai and Gabumon watched with pride before they slowly faded into the darkness.

* * *

"Why is it that we are always going uphill?" Joe gasped as his legs ached from climbing up the small hill he and Mimi were walking up. "I don't know if I can take much more of this."

Ogremon bit his tongue to suppress a groan that threatened to escape his throat.

"Would you shut up already?" he growled. "No one told you guys that this would be easy. Now keep up."

The two Jedi rolled their eyes but followed quietly. They had sensed earlier that Machinedramon had been destroyed, which left only Piedmon as the sole Dark Master left.

Their small group of three had grown exponentially during their two days of travelling. Meramon, whom Joe and Mimi remembered from the desert oasis during the beginning of their journey, a snowbear-like Digimon made completely from snow named Frigimon, and a Gekomon and Otamamon had joined to assist them. It wasn't a full platoon, but Joe and Mimi were happy with whatever they could get at this point. Hopefully there were more to come.

As they continued walking, Mimi dropped to her knees in exhaustion. Everybody stopped to look at her, hoping she was okay.

"I need a break," she said, taking a sip of water out of her canteen. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, and my feet hurt."

Joe groaned as he put his hands on top of his head.

"What do you want me to do about it, Mimi?" he hissed through gritted teeth. "I don't see anything that we can eat around here."

Before things could escalate, Mimi's former subjects stepped up to ease things.

"Don't worry, Princess Mimi, we'll take care of it," said the Gekomon. Even though Mimi had told it and Otamamon not to call her "princess" anymore, they still did it out of habit.

"Yeah, sit tight and we'll be right back," Otamamon echoed as the two of them walked off into the trees.

Deciding a break would be good for now, Joe put his duffle bag on the ground and sat against a nearby tree. Ogremon and Meramon broke away from the pack to get some water while Frigimon also sat down against a tree.

Mimi watched as Joe took a sip from his canteen. It was honorable of him to honor her request for a break, especially since they hadn't eaten in a day. She giggled when she remembered what she first thought about him when they met. He was very by the book and sometimes inconsiderate, but she knew he had a heart of gold. It's what made him the perfect choice to be the Jedi of Reliability.

"Joe?" she quietly said as she moved over to sit down beside him.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"You didn't have to do that, you know. I appreciate you stopping for me."

Joe slightly blushed. "Well, I learned my lesson from Infinity Mountain, and I promised the others I would look after you. It would look bad on me if I didn't allow us to stop."

Mimi planted a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."

Joe's blush erupted until it spread across his whole face. A small drop of blood fell from his right nostril. He desperately tried to cover his blush up, but it was useless as she giggled at the sight of him.

A familiar, snide voice chuckled beside Joe.

"Way to go, lover boy!"

Joe swiftly turned to see Gomamon rolling on the ground while clutching his sides in maniacal laughter. Palmon appeared beside him as well, gliding towards Mimi without a second to waste.

"Mimi!" the plant Digimon cried as the two embraced each other. "It's been a while."

"Palmon, what are you doing here?" Mimi asked as they separated.

"Gomamon and I wanted to make sure you two were okay," Palmon explained. "The other guardians were getting worried about you all, especially after Machinedramon was destroyed by Tai and the others."

While the two got reacquainted, Joe was doing what he could to try and save face from Gomamon. Though he would not have minded returning the kiss, he knew that it wasn't meant in that way. He remembered how young he was and he didn't want to feel the rejection she had for him.

"Had enough?" Joe glared with his arms folded across his chest.

"You should have seen your face!" Gomamon wiped tears from his eyes as his laughing fit started to subside. "Way to take one for the team, Joey ole pal!"

The boy's glare grew fiercer when his hated nickname escaped the seal Digimon's lips.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?!" he roared.

"Oh calm down. I know Mimi is quite the charming type so you don't have to hide it."

Joe's face turned red from embarrassment once again. "SHUT UP!"

Gomamon could see that this was going nowhere fast. He and Palmon had serious business to attend to here. They knew that Joe and Mimi were headed for the Primary Village, but needed to prepare them for what they would likely see.

"I wouldn't expect much for when you guys reach Primary Village," he said. "It's a ghost town practically. The Dark Masters destroyed it when they staged a coup against us guardians. What do you hope to find there?"

Joe rolled his eyes. Ogremon had told them this before, so why was Gomamon telling him now?

"Yeah, I've heard that before," he replied. "Mimi and I want to find Leomon reborn there so he can help us. We'll return to the others soon with reinforcements to defeat Piedmon."

Gomamon sadly sighed. "You're wasting your time, Joe. It hurts me to say this to you, but you are."

"He's right," said Palmon. "There's nothing in Primary Village to find. It's all dark and gloomy and completely lifeless. If you want to keep going, you're more than welcome to, but Gomamon and I just wanted to warn you all. May the Force be with you guys."

Before Joe and Mimi could do anything, their guardians vanished in a small burst of light. Their final words left them with plenty of things to think about. Maybe they were indeed wasting their time, but it was worth a shot.

"We're back!" Gekomon and Otamamon cried as they emerged from the bushes with armfuls of food in their possession. Fruits, nuts, berries, anything they could find that they hoped would satisfy their princess.

Joe walked up to the top of the hill as Mimi replenished her energy to get a look of what was beyond. The landscape was drab and plain. What was once colorful was now grey and gloomy. It was sad for him to look at because it showed how far the dark grip of the Dark Masters stretched.

' _Piedmon will pay for what he and the others have done,'_ he thought. _'I swear it. No one who terrorizes innocent creatures like this has any right to call themselves human.'_

The last thing Jim said to him about living his life his way reverberated within the walls of his mind. This was the time for him to prove to himself that he could be someone that unapologetically did things their way, no matter what anyone else thought.

With this in mind, he turned back to face the others. Meramon and Ogremon had returned from getting a drink by now, as had Frigimon. Mimi had finished a small portion of the food she was gifted and stowed the rest in Joe's bag.

"Okay, everybody," he said. "Are we all ready to go?"

The Digimon were taken aback by how forcefully Joe was taking the lead. The whole walk thus far they had known him to be the passive type. What had caused him to change?

"I guess we are," Ogremon replied, to which everyone else nodded.

Joe's lips curved in a small smile. "Okay, then let's press on to Primary Village. We cannot afford to waste any more time. It's a luxury we don't have right now."

"You've got it."

And so the group continued on. The first ten minutes yielded nothing, but they were not deterred in the slightest. Finally, after a half-hour of walking, Ogremon and the other Digimon ordered the two Jedi to stop.

"We're here," said Ogremon.

Joe and Mimi could hear the sadness in his voice as they gazed up ahead. They gasped as what they saw horrified them to no end.

Large, charcoal grey squares that looked like blocks were either toppled over or completely destroyed. Very few were still standing on top of each other in a perfect row. What seemed to be a place that was once colorful and bright had turned into a place of death and despair.

The site of Primary Village reminded Mimi of Piedmon's sardonic smile. The one shred of hope that Leomon would come back and fight with Mimi against Piedmon and finding reinforcements was implausible.

"This is awful!" Mimi cried, feeling tears start to sting her eyes from what she was seeing. It was too much for her to take in.

"I told you not to expect too much here," Ogremon said softly.

The trees were broken as if a serrated blade struck the bark and carved a circle in them, destroying the tree. Every memory of embarrassment and cowardice in Joe's heart was replaced with loss and heartbreak.

"Mimi...we should keep looking," he said. "Maybe one of the Digimon is still hiding here."

The group hesitantly moved forward, inspecting all of the destruction that had taken place. The wind blew ominously across the plain, giving them the impression that they were walking into a war zone. Once they cleared the dismantled structures, it opened up to an even worse sight: eggs that were either destroyed or looked to be solid stone. Either way, there was no life to be found.

Mimi brought her hands to her mouth in horror. The Force was strong in this village, but it was a faint tugging at the back of both her and Joe's minds now.

"Those poor, defenseless eggs," she gasped. "What monsters would do such a thing?"

"The Dark Masters, of course," said a new voice before it bitterly added, "No thanks to you lot."

The Jedi immediately activated their lightsabers after being startled by the voice. They immediately scanned the area for who the voice belonged to.

"It's okay, Destined Jedi. I mean no harm to you. Put your sabers away."

The two looked behind them and saw a small, skunk-like creature resting against the trunk of a tree with a sad look on its face. It was red all over with a white underbelly and purple markings. Its long ears rested sadly against its head as it looked at them with sad blue eyes.

Joe was the first to approach it. "Who are you?"

"I'm Elecmon, caretaker of Primary Village," replied the creature. "That is, I _was_ before the Dark Masters came along. Before that, it was my responsibility to watch over and protect the baby Digimon that would hatch here until they were ready to go off on their own."

"Pleasure to meet you, Elecmon," Joe smiled at him. "I'm-"

"I know you who you two are," Elecmon glared at them. "If you hadn't left us, none of this would have happened. When your guardians lost control, the Dark Masters came in and destroyed everything here. They spared me, but that was only after destroying several eggs."

Elecmon was scarred on the inside and taking it hard. The two Jedi couldn't necessarily be angry with him for blaming them. After all, if they hadn't left, stability could have been brought to the Digital World. Because of their choice to follow Myotismon, they realized the can of worms they had opened.

Joe squatted down to look at Elecmon directly. "When we defeat the Dark Masters, even the stillborn eggs will come back to Primary Village. I promise."

The Digimon eyed him carefully. "Haven't you done enough?" he snapped.

"We're sorry, but we can't change what happened," Joe continued. "What we can do is destroy all of the Dark Masters and make sure this can never happen again. Only Piedmon is left, and we are on our way to defeat him. Want to come with us, Elecmon?"

He stretched out his hand towards him. Elecmon stared at it with caution.

"We could sure use you in our struggle against the Dark Masters," Mimi added. "We need all the friends we can get."

Taking that into consideration, Elecmon went into deep thought. While it was certainly true that he wanted nothing more than to avenge Primary Village, he couldn't do it alone. The Destined Jedi were the only ones who could help him accomplish that goal. He was still bitter towards them for what had happened, but there was no other choice.

He nodded slightly as he made his choice.

"Okay. I will join you."

* * *

Kari lumped the last stone on top of the makeshift memorial she made for the Numemon that sacrificed themselves to stop Machinedramon. The girl felt it was appropriate that they be honored for the role they played in helping them win, and Tai was more than happy to accommodate her request.

Once her job was done, she knelt before the small mound of dirt to pay her respects to them. TK was right beside her so he copied.

"Thank you, Numemon," she muttered. "Without you, we would not have succeeded in destroying Machinedramon. You will always be in our hearts and our memories."

"And we will make sure you are reborn at the Primary Village," added TK.

Kari then muttered a Buddhist sutra that she remembered hearing when she was younger. She didn't know what it meant, but it was the only thing she could think of at the moment. After a few more seconds, the two youngest Destined Jedi stood up and walked back to their other comrades.

"Are you guys ready now?" Tai asked as the group gazed up at the hill in front of them.

TK and Kari nodded. The group then began walking up the small hill to get a scope of the entire landscape around them. From what they gathered, it was practically a deserted wasteland at the top of Spiral Mountain.

Once they reached the top, the Jedi were struck at just how drab it was. There was nothing but rock and gravel for miles around. It was like a prospector's greatest dream come true. Rare and precious metals were bound to be plentiful in this area.

Sora finally caught eye of something that broke the monotony of rock.

"Look!" she cried, pointing towards something in the far distance that looked like an observatory. Tai and the others followed her finger.

From first glance, the observatory seemed to be oozing evil with the dark presence that hovered over it like dark clouds. Its Gothic architecture and cables reaching out through the ground like tentacles.

"That has to be the Dark Masters' lair," Sora insisted. "And where we will find the last of them."

"Piedmon," Tai breathed with a determined glare on his face. "I can sense him close by." From this distance, the lair did not look so scary. They could handle this no problem. He finally spoke up to the others. "Well, we know what to do. Let's go take care of business, crew."

"Hold on," Izzy stopped him before he could move an inch. "Don't you think we should have a plan first, Tai? In case you haven't noticed, it's just us five. We need the others to arrive first before we can do anything."

Tai glared at him. "We can't depend on the others to show up now, Izzy. We don't even know where they have gone. I say we go destroy Piedmon right now."

"I'm with Izzy on this, Tai," Sora chimed in. "We need a plan. Piedmon is the strongest of all the Dark Masters; he will be tough to destroy with it being just us."

The leader groaned. "Not you too, Sora!"

While the older three Jedi argued, TK and Kari saw something that immediately sent shivers down their spines. Their faces paled and the fight-or-flight trigger started acting up.

"Guys," TK cried. "Something's coming this way."

The arguing stopped once he said that. Tai pulled out his mini telescope and gazed out upon the plain. His eyes widened in fear as he finally caught sight of a figure making its way towards them. He narrowed the lens to get a closer look at who it was, though the Force was telling him he knew.

Piedmon.

* * *

 **Dun dun dunnnnnnn! The great battle that you all have been waiting for is coming soon. Will the Destined Jedi be up to the task? Find out on the next episode of the Destined Jedi.**

 **So a mix of soul-searching moments, comic relief, and building anticipation; a little bit of everything for you all. Once again, I sincerely apologize for not warning you guys about not updating last week. Hope this chapter made up for it.**

 **I will be on spring break all this next week so I will be updating on time like I always have. I am so anxious to begin writing this next chapter because I have a few tricks of my own coming into play these next two chapters.**

 **As always, be sure to leave a review and subscribe. Love the reviews you guys send my way because they motivate me to keep churning out these weekly updates. It's not a drag or a chore like it seems to be because I have you guys behind me all the way.**

 **See you guys next week. May the Force be with you all.**

 **P.S. I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!**


	46. Piedmon's Last Jest

**Reviews:**

 **Guest: Thanks! Has my writing and storytelling really gotten that much better? I've been reading so many books lately that I guess it may have had an effect on me.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Oh yes. Just you wait.**

 **Music Chick: I hope so. At least I only have to go for two years this time rather than four, which I guess makes it tolerable. Just you wait and see ;-)**

 **Thanks to doggy bye for favoriting the story.**

* * *

 **Hey guys. Hope you had an awesome week. Wanted to get this up yesterday but I was traveling back from spending spring break in San Jose on Friday that I couldn't finish up everything in time for then. At least I got it out this week. Went to a Sharks game on Thursday, which they won over Montreal 5-2 :) I had a great time, but now I'm ready to get back to business because we have one last Dark Master to defeat. Will this prove to be the toughest test for the Jedi?**

 **Find out.**

* * *

' _He must have known we were coming,'_ Tai felt a shiver go down his spine as Piedmon continued to get closer and closer to the Destined Jedi. It felt like the undertaker was coming for them with every step he took. This was going to be the toughest battle they had ever faced.

Tai still remembered how he and Matt got their butts handed to them the first time they had confronted Piedmon. While the blonde-haired Jedi was not there with them, he was confident he had learned his lesson from that time to win now.

The smirk on Piedmon's face grew wider as he got closer to the group of children. He was surprised at how quick and easily they had torn through his fellow Dark Masters.

' _They will not find me to be so easy,'_ thought the clown until he was merely ten feet away from the Jedi.

"I must say, I commend you children for how quickly you managed to defeat my comrades," he said. "Not even the group of brats that came before you did that."

Tai frowned as he activated his lightsaber. "Your reign of terror ends now, Piedmon," he said in a low voice. A chorus of _snap-hiss_ followed as the others followed suit. "This is for all of our friends who have died trying to stop you."

Piedmon surveyed the five Jedi and realized that they were short three members. A snicker escaped his lips, which then grew into full-blown maniacal laughter that echoed across the plain. The children were confused as to what was funny.

"You brats are more foolish than I thought," the clown finally said. "Without your missing friends, you do not stand a chance at defeating me. It's going to take more than just you five."

"It was the five of us that destroyed Machinedramon," Sora shot, not intimidated at all by Piedmon's presence. "Be careful what you wish for, Piedmon."

"My only wish is for you to be begging me to kill you."

Tai leapt forward with a fast strike before Piedmon could react. The clown's twin red lightsabers sprang to life just in time to block the attack. The two traded a few more attacks before their sabers locked together.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Piedmon smirked as he shook his head. "That was not very good sportsmanship from you, Jedi of Courage. You should know better than to attack your opponent when he is not ready for it."

"I don't care about your rules," Tai shot as the two resumed their duel.

Their sabers were like two speeding blurs as Tai and Piedmon went back and forth blocking each other's attacks. Piedmon soon gained the upper hand with a spinning heel kick after jumping over a swing to his knees.

He raised his saber to do more damage to Tai, but Sora jumped in to intercept the attack. Izzy, TK, and Kari soon joined the fray. Even with their superior numbers, Piedmon used his two-saber attack to keep the Jedi at bay. With one saber, he blocked Sora and Izzy's sabers and TK and Kari with the other.

It was a circle of gyrating lightsabers trying to intimidate Piedmon. What the children didn't know was Piedmon relished the feeling of being cornered; to make blood keep spurting out of their collars and arms like water from a Mammothmon's trunk.

"There were once eight Destined Jedi who came back to the Digital World to save it from the Dark Masters," Piedmon sang in a twisted nursery rhyme to the poised children. "Then just when they thought they had the upper hand, the tall and brilliant Piedmon speckled them with a concealed weapon of his own."

Without warning, he unleashed four concealed knives from his cuffs and threw them. The Jedi swung their sabers to deflect the sharp objects into the ground. That had proven to be a fatal mistake because it took their attention away from Piedmon. Izzy and Sora were Force pushed into a boulder behind them, leaving TK and Kari completely unprotected.

The youngest Jedi held their own the best they could until Piedmon gained the advantage. He was about to kick them aside with another backward heel kick until Tai dropkicked him in the chest.

"You'll pay for that," the clown glared at him before using his Juyo style at its most powerful. Tai was quick to rise to the challenge as he, his sister, and TK took each attack in stride. Even with it being just the five of them, it wasn't going to be enough.

' _Matt, guys, wherever you are, we need you.'_

* * *

Joe, Mimi, and their entourage continued their tour through Primary Village to get a picture of what the place had been like before the Dark Masters took over. Elecmon got emotional when describing the history behind each part, especially the egg hatchery.

"I always looked forward to the day when an egg would hatch," explained the mammal as he wiped away a tear with his claw. "It always meant there was another life for me to take care of. Without them, I'm completely lost."

Joe dropped down to his knee, flashing him a smile. "I know how important this is to you, Elecmon, and I promise that we will restore life to Primary Village once more. Once we destroy Piedmon, everything will go back to the way it was."

Elecmon nodded. "I appreciate that, Jedi of Reliability. But we must find more allies in our fight."

"Don't you think we have more than enough?" Mimi asked, looking back at the group they had already assembled.

"To take on Piedmon, all eight Destined Jedi must fight together," the caretaker of Primary Village continued. "Any less, and you will fail. Piedmon is the strongest of all the Dark Masters. I have seen him slaughter many able-bodied Digimon. You don't stand a chance without the rest of you."

The two Jedi's faces fell, knowing he was right. Without Matt and the others, they had no chance of succeeding in their mission.

"Then we need to find Matt," said Joe. "I can sense him nearby."

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," a new voice called at the edge of the clearing. The group looked over to see Matt emerge from the trees, his navy blue yukata unmistakable amongst the grey.

"Matt!" Mimi cried as she and Joe ran over to the blonde-haired Jedi, hugging him once she reached him. "You're back!"

He gave her a soft smile. "Yeah, I am. I'm ready to come back."

"Where have you been over these last few days?" asked Joe. "We were worried about you."

Matt shrugged. "Oh, nowhere. Just getting my head on straight thanks to some friends." His face turned serious. "Tai and the others have gone to the top of Spiral Mountain. We must make haste if we are to get there in time to help."

"How do we get there?" Mimi asked.

Matt's grin grew a little wider. If there was one thing he learned in his two days in the cave, it was that the Force was never wrong in guiding him where he needed to go. Their friendship was stronger than anything else in the entire Digital World.

"Haven't you learned by now, Mimi?" he replied. "The Force will guide us to where they are. Like how the North Star guides travelers in the night, it will lead us to them."

"Since when did you become the philosophical type, Matt?" Joe chuckled, surprised at seeing this new side of Matt that he had never seen before.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you guys later. We need to get moving." Matt took off running back into the trees. "Come on!"

The Jedi of Reliability and Sincerity looked at each other with confused expressions. What had gotten into Matt to make him this way? It went against everything that they knew about him. Even so, it was something they did not mind seeing after how he had been when the group separated.

They and their entourage soon ran to catch up to the Jedi of Friendship. The greatest test of their lives loomed over them like the scythe of doom, but they were ready to meet it head on for their friends.

* * *

Tai panted heavily as the battle began to take a heavy toll on him. Sweat dripped down his forehead in buckets as he put breath back in his lungs. The duel was getting dragged out longer than he had anticipated. His fellow Jedi were also exhausted, but determined to destroy Piedmon before the clown could do that to them.

Tai wasn't going to let that happen.

Piedmon played with his knife a little, wondering if he should use it, before dashing at Tai with a flurry of lightsaber slashes. Tai stumbled back from the first two and blocked the last one using both his hands on the handle to push against the clown's twin red lightsabers.

"When are you going to admit that it's useless to try and challenge me?" Piedmon sneered as he moved his face inches away from Tai's. "Your strength is beginning to fail you, Jedi of Courage. I can sense it. Your little friends will not be coming to save you any time soon."

"Shut up!" Tai broke their lock and kicked him in the gut. With Piedmon stunned, he unleashed a barrage of strikes that put the Dark Master back on his heels. Each attack was laced with his building frustration and anger.

Piedmon's sneer grew even wider as he felt the anger bubbling inside of Tai. This was the perfect opportunity for him to exploit. The two traded strikes for a brief moment until the clown kneed Tai in the one place men do not wish to be kneed in.

The other Destined Jedi grimaced as Tai groaned painfully. Izzy and TK clutched their groins like they were affected as well while Kari and Sora tried to contain their giggles. Piedmon used the Force to push Tai back towards them. They surrounded him in a second.

"Are you okay, Tai?" TK asked as their leader rolled in the ground in agony.

"I've had better days," Tai choked out as he started crying from the pain, his hands stuck firmly between his thighs. "Sora, give me a hand."

But Sora had collapsed under the weight of her giggles, ignoring him as she and Kari pounded the ground in their mirth.

"Sorry, Tai," she gasped, wiping a tear from her eye. "But I'm afraid that I can't heal that kind of injury. You're on your own this time."

Tai glared at her as the two female Jedi exploded into laughter. Izzy and TK helped him up to his feet. His lower body was still on fire from the blow it took to the apex of his thighs.

Piedmon watched with amusement. He always liked having fun with his victims before he killed them. This one would be no different.

"That wasn't fair!" Tai hissed through gritted teeth as he tried to stay on his feet. His body was begging him to stop from how tired it was, but his brain refused to listen.

Piedmon chuckled. "Who said I played fair? When are you Destined Jedi going to learn that I cannot be beaten? Don't let yourselves be destroyed like your dear friend Gennai did."

The mere mention of Gennai was enough for Tai to leap into action once again. TK and Izzy tried to stop him but he unleashed his lightsaber, the blue blade glowing more ferociously than ever, and jumped towards Piedmon. The clown blocked his burst with his twin lightsabers until he shoved his boot into Tai's face and kept it pressed against him as he lay on the ground.

"You are beginning to annoy me now," said Piedmon as his left saber nearly touched Tai's face. The boy desperately tried to peel the clown's boot off his face, but was unsuccessful. A sadistic smirk grew on Piedmon's face. "I'm going to kill you, Jedi of Courage. After today, no one will question my power. It will forever be told how the Destined Jedi begged for death, and I, the ever merciful Piedmon, obliged."

"NO!" the other Jedi screamed as he raised the saber over his head, ready to deliver the fatal strike that would end Tai's life.

But before it could be delivered, Piedmon sensed a presence coming towards him. He turned in time to be met with a powerful kick to the face. The force of the kick was so strong that it staggered him off of Tai, who looked up at the face of his savior.

"Matt?"

The blonde-haired Jedi smiled at him. "Yeah, it's me. I'm back."

Tai managed to weakly smile back. "I never doubted you for a second, Matt. I always believed in you. I hope you understand that."

"I know. I'm sorry for everything. None of that matters now; let's defeat Piedmon together."

"You've got it," Tai nodded with a thumb's up. With a _snap-hiss_ , his and Matt's lightsabers emerged, ready for action.

"Hey, you guys!" Joe's voice echoed across the plain as he and Mimi emerged, lightsabers activated, and joined the others.

Now that all of the Destined Jedi had been reunited, Piedmon knew that it was time to set his plan into motion. Truth be told, he preferred killing in a more _unorthodox_ way than just running his saber through his victims.

"Looks like the gang's all here," he sneered, giving a sarcastic round of applause. "I congratulate you all for finding your way back to one another."

Matt pointed his saber threateningly. "This is where it all ends, Piedmon. This is where you finally pay for what you did to Gennai and us along the way. It is more than what you deserve."

To his surprise, Piedmon cackled loudly. It rumbled like thunder during a heavy storm in the middle of summer. Whatever trick the clown had up his sleeve, the Jedi would be more than ready to handle it. The fate of both worlds depended on it.

"You're right, Jedi of Friendship," Piedmon finally said, reaching into his pocket for something. "This is where it all ends. Unfortunately, not the way you had anticipated."

Before Tai and Matt could do anything, he tossed a handkerchief from his pocket. They were so taken off guard that they couldn't run away in time as it grew while getting closer to them. The handkerchief enveloped them and sparked like an electric chair. The two Jedi screamed in pain for a second until the sheet grew flat.

The other Jedi were stunned by this turn of events.

"What happened to them?" TK cried with wide eyes. "Was it a trick?"

"What did you do to them, Piedmon?" Izzy roared.

Piedmon chuckled. "Don't worry. I haven't killed them… _yet."_

With one swipe of his hand, he pulled the sheet off the ground to reveal nothing underneath. If it weren't so unsettling, the kids would have been amazed. Looking closer, they saw Tai and Matt's lightsabers lying an inch away. Piedmon picked them up.

"Yet another addition to my collection," he smiled happily before putting the sabers on his belt.

"Where are they?" Joe demanded.

Piedmon snickered maliciously as he opened his other palm. Two keychains in the likeness of Tai and Matt dangled from his fingers. The Jedi put two and two together and realized with shock and horror what had just happened.

"Your friends just became the latest notch in my chain," he laughed at his amusing pun.

None of the Jedi shared his mirth.

"You sick, sadistic monster!" Sora hissed with undeniable rage. "What kind of person gets pleasure out of turning others into keychains?"

"This one!" Piedmon replied before laughing that horrible laugh of his. "Don't worry. You'll be joining them soon enough."

He stalked menacingly up to them. The Jedi broke away as quickly as they could towards the entrance of the Dark Masters' lair. Sora used the Force to blast the doors open and the group piled on inside. Even though they didn't know _where_ they were going, they knew where they _wanted_ to go: anywhere that Piedmon wasn't.

"Round and round the mulberry bush, the Dark Master chased the Jedi," Piedmon sang in another twisted nursery rhyme, his voice echoing across the entire observatory as the Jedi ran as fast as they could.

They turned down a corridor, hoping it would lead them somewhere they could hide.

Sora's eyes widened. "Stop!" she cried as the group came to a halt. Joe reacted so late that he almost bumped the group forward. What they saw in front of them was horrifying.

A gaping chasm with no possible sign of a bottom that they could see smacked them dead in the face. Across the chasm was a passageway, signaling a potential way out for the Jedi. Sora desperately searched for something they could use to get across. Now that Tai and Matt were out-of-commission, it was her responsibility to make sure everyone got out safely.

"Look there!" TK cried, pointing near the ceiling.

Sora glanced up and saw a trapeze dangling from the rocky ceiling above them. She chuckled slightly. _'Knowing Piedmon, I shouldn't say I'm surprised,'_ she thought.

"Quit standing around!" a familiar voice called to the Jedi. They looked up to see Gatomon hanging on the trapeze closest to the landing above them.

"Gatomon!" Kari happily cried, smiling at the sight of her guardian.

The cat returned the smile briefly before resuming her manic tone. "There's no time for you guys to be standing around! Piedmon will catch up if you don't swing across."

"I'm not so sure about this," Mimi twiddled her index fingers nervously. "What if we fall?"

"It's either that or facing Piedmon, Mimi!" Izzy shouted. "Take your pick!"

Mimi quietly conceded after being presented with that choice. In any case, she would rather risk falling than being turned into a keychain like Matt and Tai.

"The Dark Master thought it was all in fun," came Piedmon's voice. It was getting closer and closer, sounding like a killer in those old slasher movies. He was clearly toying with them.

Sora took Kari into her arms and threw her up to the trapeze. Kari grabbed on and started to swing towards Gatomon. Once the two were close enough to each other, Kari used her momentum to launch herself into Gatomon's paws. The two swung back until the cat threw her to the landing.

TK came next, followed by Sora. But just before Izzy could get a running start towards the trapeze, the door was blasted off its hinges. Piedmon emerged.

"Pop goes the Master."

"Run, you guys!" Joe shouted to Sora as he and the others unleashed their lightsabers with a _snap-hiss._ "We'll hold him off."

Sora nodded. She turned with TK and Kari and the three ran down the corridor. Just as they did, Piedmon engaged the three Jedi for a brief moment. Joe, Izzy, and Mimi roared into action charging at Piedmon with their lightsabers. Piedmon flitted towards them but had no intention of seeing who the better saber user was. He dropped his sheet over Izzy, making the short Jedi yelp. Before it was shown if he was turned into a keychain or not, Mimi and Joe swung their lightsabers on both sides at Piedmon. Both of his gloved hands clutched two smaller knife-like lightsabers to block their long sabers.

"The time has come, the walrus said," Piedmon chuckled. He kicked Joe away with a super kick to the jaw. With the boy stunned, he was smothered with a sheet, turning him into a keychain. Mimi soon followed.

The clown collected their lightsabers, eyeing them like a collector finding a rare item, before hooking them onto his belt.

"Five down, three to go," he snickered as he took to the trapeze.

* * *

"Run, you guys!" Sora urged TK and Kari on as they kept running down the corridor. She had felt through the Force that Piedmon had turned their comrades into keychains. It was only a matter of time before the demented clown tried to add them to his collection.

The three reached an intersection in the corridor, desperately glancing down each direction to decipher which was the way out. Behind them, footsteps echoed across the stone walls, followed by a familiar wicked laugh.

Kari started to cry. Sora wrapped the girl in a comforting hug.

"It's going to be okay, Kari," she assured her in a soft voice. "I promise. I won't let anything happen to you guys." She then turned to TK. "TK, I need you to take Kari and run."

TK bristled at the suggestion. "What about you? Don't be reckless, Sora. We're a team. We can defeat Piedmon together."

"Didn't you just hear me?" Sora grabbed his shoulders. "I promised I won't let anything happen to the two of you. The only way I can do that is by giving you guys a chance to get out of here."

"But-"

"You're the only one who can protect Kari! I need you to be brave, TK. What do you think your brother would do if he were in your position right now?"

That silenced TK quickly. The wound of Matt being a keychain was still fresh.

Finally, he reluctantly said, "He would protect Kari."

"That's right," Sora nodded, lightly shoving him down the path. "Now get going. Go!"

TK's legs finally listened to his brain and started moving on their own. Kari followed just as Piedmon caught up to Sora. She activated her lightsaber, determined to go down fighting.

"I've finally caught you," he snickered. "I will now be adding the last three Destined Jedi to my collection."

Sora's eyes narrowed in concentration. "You will do no such thing, Piedmon."

Once the clown got close enough that she could reach him, she swung her lightsaber at his waist. The keychain of Matt fell to the ground harmlessly. Sora picked it up and turned back towards TK, leaving herself open to be smothered by a sheet.

"TK, catch!" she cried, tossing it to him as a sheet overcame her. Sora screamed once, and then silence. With a raise of Piedmon's sheet, she was a keychain. Her hat was sewn on her hair and her eyelashes were gone. He took her lightsaber to have it join the others.

TK caught the keychain of Matt and grabbed Kari's arm as the two continued to run. They soon reached the door at the end of the corridor. TK used the Force to push it open to reveal a balcony. The youngest Destined Jedi's faces went pale from how far up they were.

"I think we took a wrong turn," said TK, desperately searching for a way down. Sadly, there was nothing nearby that the two of them could use to get down. "Looks like we're going to have to jump down."

"Jump?!" Kari exclaimed, tears brimming in her eyes at the hopelessness of their situation as she gazed at the ground below. "You mean fall?"

"Do you see any other way down?"

"It's too high, TK! If we slip, we're goners!"

TK slammed his fists against his thighs. "It's better than being a key chain! Either way, we are in a less-than-ideal situation, Kari!"

While the two of them bickered back and forth, Piedmon emerged from the doorway with a ravenous grin like a wolf in the middle of a field of sheep. There was nowhere else to run now. They were practically staring down the devil himself.

TK and Kari didn't get a chance to move as Piedmon lifted them into the air with Force. He skulked over to them slowly, each step taking the equivalent of an eternity.

"There is nowhere left for you brats to run," he grinned that evil smile of his. "Looks like your luck has run out on you. This is where the Destined Jedi finally meet their end."

"Says you, Piedmon," TK defiantly shot. "You'll never destroy us that easily."

"If you won't go quietly, I guess I will just have to let you die." Piedmon unleashed a powerful Force pulse that sent TK and Kari flying towards the ground below. "Goodbye!"

Kari's screams mixed in with the air that rushed past TK's ears as he fell. He couldn't believe that he had let everyone down again. Sora had counted on him to keep Kari safe, but he was unable to do it. Maybe it really was over. He closed his eyes and waited for the painful sensation of his body hitting the ground to happen.

' _TK.'_

The boy's eyes snapped open at the call of his name.

" _Huh? Patamon, is that you?"_ he reached out to his guardian with the Force, wondering if Patamon was the one speaking to him.

But he didn't hear anything.

' _Don't ever give up the fight, little buddy,'_ the voice sounded like Matt's voice. TK pulled the figurine of his brother close to his face. He felt the doll radiating with Force energy. _'Even when things look bad, don't ever lose hope. Keep going to the end. I believe in you. You just have to believe in yourself.'_

Comforted by those words, TK nodded confidently. As the ground rushed closer and closer to his face, he noticed the symbol on his arm glow brighter than it ever had before.

Everything then started to slow down as he reached his hand out for Kari's. They strained their fingertips until they finally wrapped around each other. TK pulled her in towards his body as he used the Force to slow their momentum down until they landed safely on the ground.

As TK and Kari dusted themselves off from the landing, the light of his symbol was almost blinding. He no longer felt any fear, rather hope sprang from him like a fountain; galvanizing his resolve to destroy Piedmon and free the others from his cruel trick.

"Kari, stay here," he said before running back towards the spire.

"But what about-!" she began to say, but he turned and gave her a smile.

"Don't worry, I'll get him." TK sounded supremely confident and mature in his voice. He gave her a wink, telling her that he knew what he was doing. Kari nodded and allowed him to do what he needed to do.

"May the Force be with you, TK," she smiled back at him.

He nodded before running forward to the edge of the spire and began climbing back up it at incredible speeds. It only took a minute before he was now back on the balcony that Piedmon had thrown him and Kari off of. He wasn't there, which meant he was back inside.

TK opened the door and soon walked into Piedmon's main chamber. The clown was actually surprised to see the young blonde walking in beaming with confidence.

"I must say, you Destined Jedi really don't know when you're beat," the final Dark Master scoffed at him.

"You'll find we're full of surprises," TK smirked back as the two stared each other down like in a Western movie.

"Look around, boy. I killed Gennai; I've easily swatted down your friends and their pathetic attempts to defeat me and turned them into simple trinkets for my backpack. What hope do you have against me?"

The boy chuckled. "You made a key mistake, Piedmon. I'm the Jedi of Hope!" TK activated his blue lightsaber and charged forward.

Piedmon thought he could easily strike down the insolent boy with ease.

It would be one of the last mistakes he'd ever make.

TK ran up to him with such speed that Piedmon barely had time to activate his two lightsabers before the blonde-haired boy was swinging for his neck. He blocked the attack, but was amazed at how fast it came.

To TK, the Dark Master all of a sudden seemed slow and sluggish with his motions. The entire world around him seemed to be moving in slow motion. He heard of those times in a person's life where everything moved slowly when in the moment. His symbol glowed brightly as he zigged and zagged around his opponent like a mouse escaping a cat.

To Piedmon, the Jedi before him was moving faster than he ever thought possible. It was almost as if time was slowing down for the blonde-haired Jedi to make things easy for him.

TK first threw three swings that Piedmon blocked but was given no time to rest as he had to prevent two more strikes at his legs. He grinned confidently until TK swept the Dark Master's feet out from under him.

' _How can this be?'_ the Dark Master wondered as he returned the favor. Their dance continued once the two of them rose to their feet.

Piedmon was quickly being pushed back, faster than he ever had before. The clown now realized that TK was not like the other Destined Jedi but something else entirely. Perhaps he secretly was the strongest one of them all.

As he kept taking more and more steps back while trying hard to defend against TK's relentless onslaught of attacks, he realized that his trickery might be the only way to save himself.

He first put a few feet between him and the child and threw out one of his trick handkerchiefs, hopeful that he could turn the boy into another keychain.

It didn't work. TK sliced his way through it before using a Force Push on Piedmon. He felt the force of a cannonball striking him in his chest and he was blown back into his throne, which snapped off of its pedestal and broke apart underneath him.

TK jumped over and tried to stab Piedmon while he was on his back but he just managed to roll away from being impaled and got back up.

He pulled out his sharp knives from the cuffs of his shirt and threw out four of them. TK responded by easily grabbing them with the Force. With a grin, he sent the knives flying right back to their owner. Piedmon cut down two of them, but one cut him in the hip and the other impaled itself in his right thigh.

Piedmon stumbled on the sheer pain that ripped through his body as he fell to one knee. TK didn't let up. The Jedi continued his attack, but felt no rage or anger in his actions. He fought as a true Jedi.

TK picked up Piedmon with the Force and threw him hard into the wall of the hallway outside his chambers. The clown got back up but he was being forced back once more towards the balcony where he thought he had achieved victory before.

Piedmon deflected another fast attack before the next one cut too close and tore through his defenses. More than that, the upward swing that was delivered cut off three of the fingers on his left hand, sliced that hand's lightsaber in half, and then went up towards his face and cut extremely deep; so deep that TK actually sliced through Piedmon's left eye.

The Dark Master screamed out in pain from his injury before he used the Force to push TK back a few feet just to prevent the Child of Hope from running his saber through him. TK raised his saber to block the attack, but still skidded back a few inches.

Piedmon picked up a large stone obelisk to the side and threw it at TK. The boy deactivated his lightsaber and caught the obelisk before tossing it back to him. He caught it back and tossed it away; only to find TK in front of him. He was then blown away with a powerful Force Repulse.

The clown now laid on the ground as TK looked up at the stone columns above and tore them from the roof before crushing Piedmon underneath them. He then pushed them away and revealed the Dark Master to be looking terrible now. His whole left arm was now shattered, he had large gashing wounds, and his right foot was barely hanging on by a few tendons.

TK picked him up once more and slammed him against the stone floor a few times before he began channeling a powerful ball of Force energy. He expelled it in a powerful push that blew the clown through the stone door and the railing on the balcony. The cruel Digimon fell down like the children had before.

Piedmon fell the full nine-hundred feet before he crashed onto the ground below. The Dark Master was barely alive now, but somehow he managed to get back up once more as TK dropped down and landed in front of him.

The two of them activated their lightsabers once more for the final moments of the duel. Kari kept watch from behind the cover of a boulder; smartly keeping away to avoid being used as a shield or some other desperate action from Piedmon.

TK slowly walked forward as Piedmon took a swing at him, easily deflecting the strike. TK then used the opening in the defenses to spin around and slice Piedmon across the knees. The Dark Master collapsed on his destroyed knees, eyeing his severed lower extremities in horror.

The young Jedi now had his back to Piedmon, who tried one more weak swing, but TK deflected it without even looking. The deflection was so hard that the lightsaber flew from his hand. TK used the Force to call one of the lightsabers on the clown's belt to his hand.

Upon closer inspection, he recognized it as Gennai's when he unleashed the blue blade in an explosion of lasers. TK felt the old man's presence in the saber, even if he wasn't there next to him. He was completely calm as he pointed both sabers at Piedmon.

"Why can't I kill you Destined Jedi?" Piedmon groaned, agonized by his injuries. His hand covered the destroyed left side of his face as he gazed at TK like a wounded animal on its last legs. The boy knew he was trying to trick him into showing mercy and would not fall for it.

"Because we never stopped believing in our mission," he replied. "Like Gennai said, so long as we believed in our mission and fought to bring balance to both worlds, then he would never be gone. I feel sorry for you, Piedmon, because you will never understand what it's like to fight for something you believe in."

TK then spun around in a perfect 360 spin, like he had seen Tai do numerous times. He twisted his sabers in his hands before he performed a reverse Shiak stab that went straight through the twisted clown's chest.

Piedmon's final moments were focused on how he could've lost before falling over as the last bit of his life escaped from him. With one last gasp, he disintegrated into millions of small particles of data.

The final Dark Master was dead.

* * *

 **And so brings the end of Piedmon. Seemed like it took forever to kill him in the series, and I did not want to do that. A gruesome, horrible death was in order for a horrible Digimon. Don't you all agree?**

 **I want to attribute that whole last battle to the amazing Ackbarfan556, who has such a knack for writing scenes like this. His work will reappear again in the future due to having written basically the entirety of an important chapter of Attack of the Emperor. You'll see what that is in the future. I also want to thank 4fireking for contributing small bits here and there for this chapter too.**

 **With the Dark Masters finally defeated, what awaits the Destined Jedi next? Will they finally get a break, or will something more sinister come out from the darkness? You do not want to miss the next chapter of 'The Destined Jedi'.**

 **Good news, Digi-fans: The 20th anniversary movie is coming out early spring of next year! Can't wait already! I'm forming a small idea for a potential fourth story but will wait for more details before I plan anything after the main trilogy. I still want to do the Tamers version of Destined Jedi, but we'll see how that goes.**

 **Thanks for 110 reviews! You guys are the greatest in the world! I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Your reviews mean everything to me. Let's see if we can get to 115 by next week. Leave a review here and as always, subscribe to the story.**

 **See you guys next week for one of three remaining chapters.**


	47. The Fate of Two Worlds

**Reviews:**

 **Lord Jaric: Glad to hear from you again. I'm so happy you enjoyed the battle, but TK will unfortunately not keep Gennai's lightsaber.**

 **Ratchet McCloud: Yes he did XD Glad that you approve of it.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: You did awesome! Like the rest of the major battles, there is always another one lurking around the corner. You'll like it though, I'm sure.**

 **Music Chick: Yup. I'm sure I speak for him in this instance when I say "thank you."**

 **Thank you Mark193 for following the story. Much appreciated.**

* * *

 **Right back on schedule like I promised, you guys. The Dark Masters have officially been defeated. Does this mean that the Jedi can go back home? Find out. We are down to the last two chapters (I changed my mind about doing three) with this being the second-to-last one. Insane to think about after doing this for the better part of a year.**

 **Let's get back to the action.**

* * *

The air fell still as TK gasped for breath. His lungs burned, begging for precious oxygen after all the flips and spins he had done. He had pushed his small body to its absolute limits during his duel with Piedmon and needed to rest. His eyes glanced to the figurines of the other Destined Jedi and the lightsabers on the ground where Piedmon had disintegrated into data.

"TK?" Kari called to him from behind the boulder she was hiding at. TK saw her peek out slightly, hesitant to fully come out in case Piedmon was still around. He smiled at her.

"It's okay," he called back. "Piedmon's gone. I beat him."

Kari finally emerged fully and ran to where he was sitting on the ground to catch his breath. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. TK's face erupted with redness.

"I knew you could do it!" she exclaimed as the two young children giggled excitedly.

TK's lips slowly curved until an ecstatic smile was spread across his entire face. It finally sunk in that he had just destroyed the leader of the Dark Masters. They were free to go home now! He let out a victorious cry as he hugged Kari back.

The youngest Destined Jedi let each other go after a few more moments. They gazed down at the group of keychains on the ground before looking at each other. TK put his hands on top of them, hoping Kari would catch on to what he was implying. The young female Jedi nodded in understanding before placing her hands on top of his.

"You ready?" TK asked.

"Yes," said Kari.

The two closed their eyes. The Force enforced their combined power as it flowed through the palms of their hands. Pink and yellow light glowed softly against their shut eyes. TK felt the dolls underneath his hands start to expand and grow until he touched the familiar material of a t-shirt.

His and Kari's eyes flickered open before locking in contact with a pair similar to their own. Tai and Matt were disoriented after that whole episode, trying to come to terms with what happened.

"Tai!"

"Matt!"

TK and Kari rushed to hug their brothers. Matt and Tai were bursting with pride as they embraced their younger siblings.

"Nice work, you guys!" Tai exclaimed with a beaming smile. His sister hugged him tightly, afraid that if she let go he would turn back into a keychain.

Matt ruffled TK's head affectionately. "I knew you could do it, TK," he said, his face lit up with pride.

"I wouldn't have done it without your advice, Matt," the younger blonde returned. He was still clutching his brother's midsection as Matt assured the boy that everything was going to be okay.

The rest of the Destined Jedi were still trying to wrap their heads around the fact the Dark Masters had finally been destroyed. No one said anything as they turned their heads left and right in disbelief. What seemed like an impossible mission when they first started had finally been finished. It was too unbelievable to grasp.

"We did it," Mimi breathed, unable to believe it.

"Yeah," Joe echoed with a far-off look in his eyes.

"We can go home now," said Sora.

A loud rumble suddenly ripped through Spiral Mountain with the sound of a ten-ton train rolling down the tracks. Pieces of rock tumbled over as cracks began to appear in the ground. The Jedi huddled together to try and ride out the quake.

"Now what's happening?" Mimi screamed. "I thought we were done!"

"Looks like you may be wrong about that, Mimi!" Tai yelled over the rumbling to make his voice heard. "No matter what happens, stick together, everybody!"

After a few seconds, the rumbling stopped. The group opened their eyes to see a bright yellow light glow from the top of the observatory in front of them. It shot like a beacon into the dark, grey sky. Small bits of precipitation that looked like fairy dust then fell from the sky onto the mountaintop.

The Destined Jedi instinctively wiped away any that would collect on their clothes and hair, but nothing came off. The substance began to flow off of Spiral Mountain to the void below.

"This must be the Digital World's way of cleansing everything that the Dark Masters affected," Izzy eyed observantly. "It's going back to normal."

"Then that means Primary Village will go back to the way it was!" Mimi beamed excitedly.

Matt looked over at Tai. "Think that we'll finally be going home now?" he asked.

Tai shrugged his shoulders in response. "I hope so," he said. "We did defeat all of the Dark Masters. Who else would there be to save the Digital World from? We did what was expected of us."

But Tai was unsure of those words as they escaped his lips. Somehow, a warning in his heart began to make itself known. It was telling him that the Dark Masters had only been cover for something much more sinister. Something that had been biding its time before it revealed itself to them.

Another shock rumbled through the mountain. This one was much more powerful than the one before it. The Jedi clung to each other, hoping that this was just an aftershock. The ground began to crumble below them until it finally opened up. The Jedi fell through into total darkness as Spiral Mountain disintegrated into nothing.

After what they guessed several hundred feet, the group came to a stop somewhere in the void. It was so dark that the Jedi could hardly see each other, much less anything else around them.

"Now where are we?" Joe asked, eyeing his surroundings with skepticism and fear. He almost wet his pants from the fall, but had managed to keep control over his bladder. "How come we're not still falling?"

"Maybe someone wants us to be here," said Izzy, having been in this situation before. "When I fell into Vademon's lair, he was the one controlling everything within it. If he wanted me to fall, he would make it happen; when he didn't, I was suspended in mid-air."

"What's your point, Izzy?" Matt glared at him. Even when they were in trouble, Izzy always had time to offer a long-winded explanation.

"My point, Matt, is that someone is controlling this void. It wanted us here and now we just need to wait for it to emerge."

Tai rolled his eyes. "Great. Now we wait for this new enemy to come and get us. We don't know what it is or what it looks like, but we'll be good little kids and wait for it."

A low, groaning sound began to emerge from all sides. The Jedi frantically turned their heads in all directions, hoping to catch a glimpse of this new enemy. Nothing happened, but the group knew it was only a matter of time before something did. It was still too dark for them to see anything another than each other.

A chorus of _snap-hiss_ echoed through the void as the Destined Jedi activated their lightsabers. Five blues, two greens, and one purple lightsaber glowed brightly in preparation for the inevitable battle that was to come. With their sabers activated, they could see each other more clearly now.

"Get ready, everybody!" Tai ordered as he calmed his nerves. The others nodded as they followed his lead.

A voice that sounded like a snake hissing began to emerge from the darkness. "Destined Jedi," it said. "You cannot escape the realm of sadness I have created. Nothing can save you now."

A few feet in front of the Jedi, a giant cube-like mass appeared from thin air. It unraveled itself until several large tentacles with sharp ends emerged from it. At the top point of the object, a grotesque figure emerged with a swish of its cape.

The Jedi cringed in disgust at the sight of it. Its arms were long and tipped with sharp, knife-like nails at the end of its hands, reminding them of Devimon. Now that they got a good look at it, the cape reminded them of Myotismon's cloak. Looking lower, its body was attached to the cube itself; blue and red wires served as the connection between the figure and the object.

"Are you repulsed by my appearance, Destined Jedi?" it sneered at them. The creature surveyed their faces with its' two reptilian eyes. "Don't be. This is the face of what the Force can do to you when you don't subscribe to one side over another. The bloodlust of the dark, and the self-righteousness of the light; they both are corrupt."

Tai finally worked up the courage to say something back. "You're wrong!" he shot. "We are nothing like them. We've been fighting to save the Digital World this whole time."

"You may think that, but you have also caused a lot of suffering," Apocalymon replied, its hands slowly rising to point toward them. "Why weren't you there to stop the Dark Masters when they took over the Digital World? Why did so many innocent Digimon have to die while you were away? Don't you see it, Destined Jedi? You are no worse than those Digimon you destroyed!"

A giant burst of Force lightning jetted from Apocalymon's fingertips towards the Jedi. They raised their sabers in time to block the onslaught and rode it out until the Digimon ceased the attack.

"Fools," it sneered. "You think as long as you have your Force powers and your weapons at your side, you can accomplish anything. Well, let's see how you do fighting just as normal humans."

The arms of the cube reached out for the Jedi. They couldn't move away in time and were grabbed by their arms. They slowly started to feel energy being drained away from them, like Apocalymon was absorbing their Force energy for itself.

When the arms finally let go, the group was horrified to see that their arms had been wiped completely clean. Not only that; their lightsabers were gone too. The Jedi had been left completely defenseless. They could still feel the Force lingering, but were unable to harness it for themselves.

"Now who's afraid of the big, bad Destined Jedi?" Apocalymon cackled loudly, relishing in the group's helplessness.

Tears started to creep into Sora's eyes as she stared longingly at her arm.

"I can't believe it," she breathed, sounding like her breath had been sucked out of her along with her symbol.

"How are we supposed to fight now?" Mimi cried.

Before anyone could answer, the Jedi felt a weird tingling sensation flow through their bodies. They couldn't feel their toes. It was like they were standing in six feet of snow and frostbite was beginning to set in.

Joe looked down and screamed at what he saw. His entire lower body was starting to disappear in bits of data. His toes had completely disappeared and now his legs were breaking down.

"What's happening?" he shrieked as they withered away.

Apocalymon laughed. "Don't you know better than to give in to fear? It leads to the dark side, as you say. Now prepare to be digitalized as I prepare to take over both worlds! Only then will balance be brought to the Force. Neither the dark nor the light will dominate."

Unlike the other kids, Izzy was fascinated by what was happening. His lower body had completely disappeared by this point and the rest of his body was starting to follow.

"We're being broken down into bits of digital information," he noted, sounding like a bystander watching this happen rather than being frightened by it. "Fascinating."

"You call this fascinating?!" Tai yelled as his torso began breaking down up to his collarbone. "Now's not the time for that, Izzy!"

The Jedi watched helplessly as their bodies continued to become digitized. Their collarbones disappeared first. Their necks followed.

Jaw.

Face.

Finally, head.

* * *

Tai opened his eyes as he felt the strange sensation of floating. A bright white light blasted him in the face but when he raised his hand to block it out, it didn't work. Zeros and ones flashed before his eyes, changing to a different variation every second.

' _So this is what it's like to be a piece of data,'_ he noted as he continued to drift around the void. He started to feel dizzy with each passing second.

The safety of his friends became more important. He wondered if they were all here too.

"Guys!" he cried, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound. "Are you here? If so, tell me you're all okay!"

Slowly, seven other voices emerged from various parts of the void. Mimi and Joe were freaking out over being turned into data while Izzy was more mellow about their situation.

"Get me out of here!" Mimi screeched, on the verge of tears.

"Not so loud, Mimi!" Matt barked. "We're all in close to each other."

"If you guys think about it, we are the first humans to be digitally processed," said Izzy. "That makes us pioneers. Wait until everyone back home hears about this."

Joe started singing the chorus of ' _Sloop John B'_ as he floated above Tai. Kari appeared right next to him for a brief second before disappearing again.

"Can we get back?" she asked.

"I honestly don't know, Kari," said Sora. "We haven't faced anything like this before. Looks like this could be it for us. Without our Force powers and our lightsabers, it's not like we could win anyway."

Those words slowly sank in for all of the Jedi. Sora was right. How were they going to break free of this void and get their physical bodies back? Not even Izzy could come up with a solution to the problem.

Tai sighed deeply, closing his eyes in defeat. "So this is it," he muttered. "We've failed. It's over."

"Don't say that!"

The Jedi of Courage snapped his eyes open at the sound of the familiar voice. Eight balls of light flashed before the Jedi to reveal their Digimon guardians. Agumon, Gabumon, Biyomon, Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Patamon, and Gatomon all floated in mid-air before them, staring directly into their souls.

"Don't give up just because things didn't go the way you planned," Agumon continued. "You all have come too far to just quit right now."

Biyomon nodded. "He's right," she agreed before looking directly at Sora. "Sora, if you had decided to throw your lightsaber into a lake when you ran away during your training, I wouldn't have met you. You wouldn't have been able to find the strength to make up with your mother either."

Sora's face went red in embarrassment. She couldn't argue with that at all.

"And despite all of your troubles, Matt, you found a way to overcome them and come back to your friends," said Gabumon. "There's nothing more powerful and more important than friendship, and I can see that you have learned that during your time here."

Matt shrugged nonchalantly, but it was only a façade as a proud smile worked its way up his face. "Yeah, I guess I have. Even if I feel like I didn't deserve it."

"It shows how much stronger of a person you've become," the wolf Digimon replied. "I'm proud of you, Matt."

"Thanks, Gabumon."

Tentomon was the next to speak.

"Izzy, when I first met you, I thought you were just one of those computer geeks. Now I know that you really _are_ one of those computer geeks," he said. "That being said, you have grown into a wise Jedi that I am proud to be the guardian of."

Izzy softly smiled. "Thanks, Tentomon."

"None of you guys knew what would happen during those fights you got into," said Gomamon. "But that didn't stop you from fighting. Not even when you guys lost Gennai did you give up."

Palmon slapped a limb over his mouth to shut him up.

"Too soon," she hissed.

Joe knew he was right. When the group first got there, he wanted nothing more than to run and hide most of the time. It was embarrassing to think about now but he didn't know what else to do at the time. When they stepped up to fight Devimon, something changed in him despite getting sliced on the calf. Joe looked down at the scar that was still there on his leg.

"No, it's okay," he assured the plant Digimon. "He's right. We thought we couldn't go on without Gennai. We almost broke apart from it. But we knew what needed to be done. Just like when I took down the sea monster in the bay after saving TK from drowning."

"And I learned something too," TK added. "I learned that you have to fight for what you believe in, no matter what. Things may look bad, but as long as there is hope, anything can happen."

"That's right, TK." Patamon nodded.

"Don't forget that there are still people depending on you," said Gatomon.

A portal began to open behind the guardians. The Jedi gasped as the sight of their loved ones became clear. They were gazing up at the sky and watching the whole thing unfold before their eyes, hoping and praying for their children to come back alive. Tears almost began to fill the Jedi's eyes from the display. Even without the Force, they could feel the love and support from them.

"It's because of the courage and strength you have shown that your loved ones still have hope. You can't give up now while they still believe in you."

Tai clenched his fist with a renewed determination. "You're right, guys. We've come too far to just give up now. Everything we have gone through has prepared us for this moment. Defeating Devimon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters was just to get us ready for this last fight. We can do it!"

The Jedi echoed his enthusiasm pumping their fists into the air.

"We'll not only avenge the memory of the Destined Jedi who came before us, but we will make sure no evil can return to the Digital World ever again!"

The guardians smiled proudly. Suddenly, familiar colored lights radiated off of the Jedi. They looked down at their arms to see that their symbols had returned on their wrists. It felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped onto them as the Force surged through their bloodstream.

"Our power!" Izzy exclaimed. "It's back!"

"How can that be?" Joe wondered. "I thought Apocalymon had wiped out our symbols."

"The Force has been inside all of you this whole time," Gomamon explained. "It isn't something that can be easily taken away."

In front of the Digimon, eight lightsabers appeared in a flash of light and floated towards the Jedi. Their fingers wrapped around the sabers like greeting an old friend. Their blades emerged in a chorus of hissing.

"Now, finish your mission, Destined Jedi," said Agumon as the guardians faded into the light from which they entered. "Believe in each other. Believe in the Force. If you do that, nothing can stop you. May the Force be with you."

The digital void slowly disappeared and the Jedi returned to Apocalymon's dimension in their physical forms. The lights of their symbols glowed blindingly bright, forcing Apocalymon to shield its eyes.

"What's going on?" it gasped, flabbergasted at this unexpected turn of events. It thought it had finally rid the Digital World of the Destined Jedi. How could this be happening? "How is this possible?!"

Tai smirked as he resisted the urge to charge at Apocalymon for the time being. With all he had learned over his time in the Digital World, he learned not to recklessly run into a fight.

"Haven't you learned by now, Apocalymon?" he said. "It's not wise to underestimate us. No matter what was thrown at us, we've risen up to the challenge every single time. Devimon fell; Myotismon fell; the Dark Masters all fell one by one. Now we just have to defeat you."

"And what makes you think you can win?" Apocalymon sneered at them.

"Because we're the Destined Jedi!" the group announced in unison.

The Jedi pointed their sabers down past their sides as they prepared to charge. Tai ran first and the others followed him one at a time. The Force gave them such a boost of energy that they thought they could run through walls. Apocalymon shot off more Force lightning to halt their advance, but an energy shield deflected it away.

Joe smiled proudly as he kept the shield up in front of them. The group then broke off into four separate groups of two to surround Apocalymon on all sides.

Matt, Tai, Sora, and Kari were in one group. Sora crouched down into a ball. While floating in this pitch black fog, Kari jumped on Sora's back and used her small lightsaber to slash through Apocalymon's ball of energy. The malevolent Digimon launched a chain out of his ball rushing into Kari.

Matt and Tai used the Force to push back against the chain while Sora slashed it apart. Izzy, Mimi, Joe, and TK were all using their lightsabers to cut holes into the cube connected to the Digimon.

Apocalymon was not doing any good fighting up close but with its power over the dimension, it hurled large rocks the size of a furnace towards the Jedi. One collision would be enough to break every organ in their bodies. However, they were trained to slash the rocks apart at the right moment and did. TK used his ability to slow down time in order to slash the boulder at the right moment.

Apocalymon could see that time in the digital void made them braver and harder to hurt, but they were not untouchable. With one swipe of its bony fingers, two boulders were sent straight into TK and Kari. TK would have cried like a baby from pain before today, but now he used that pain as an incentive of why he was fighting Apocalymon.

"Are you hurt, Kari?" he asked as the female Jedi gathered herself.

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine." Kari then saw a slight cut bleeding from the side of his head, contrasting against his blonde hair. "You're hurt!"

"It's fine," he assured her before standing up. "We've got work to do."

TK felt a pair of hands press against the sides of his head. A warm, comforting energy flowed into his wound and slowly felt it fade away. After a few seconds, the hands removed themselves from his head. He turned to see Sora standing crouched over the two of them.

"Feel better now, TK?" asked the older Jedi.

TK touched the side that had been bleeding before bringing his hand into vision. No blood graced his fingers.

He smiled at Sora. "Yes. Thank, Sora," he thanked before rushing back into the fight. "Now let's get back in there!"

Mimi and Izzy were severing chains from it with brilliant slashes from their lightsabers. Whenever one would be destroyed, it seemed like there were two more to replace that one.

"Izzy, look out!" Mimi cried.

One chain came in to try and swipe them away but Mimi harnessed water in the air to repel it. Izzy finished the job by slashing it to pieces.

"Thanks," he smiled in appreciation. "Tai, Matt! He's all yours."

The two Jedi nodded and began charging towards the monstrosity. Apocalymon used whatever claws it had left to try and stop them but Matt and Tai downed them with well-timed slashes of their sabers.

Matt swiftly dodged any other claws that came at him by using his extreme speed. Tai had to refrain from blinking in order to keep a close watch on him as Matt became a blur.

"I've got him distracted, Tai!" Matt cried. "Destroy him!"

Tai flashed him his famous grin, almost like he was telling Matt not to worry about a thing. Even though he couldn't move as fast as Matt could, the Force still provided him with a good boost towards Apocalymon.

With the last bit of strength in his legs, he leapt over a claw coming towards him. Apocalymon was now completely exposed before him. Tai leaped with his saber pointed towards the Digimon's chest and roared with all his might as he shoved the blue blade into Apocalymon's chest.

Time stood completely still. The only thing Tai could hear was the beating of his heart. Blood pumped in his ears, blocking out everything going on around him. Apocalymon glared at him with one last dying gaze before exhaling its last breath and dissolving into millions of pieces of data.

Before the Jedi could celebrate their victory, a large stream of data began to flood the cube that housed Apocalymon. The whole dimension was starting to cave in on itself.

Apocalymon's cold laugh echoed menacingly from all sides.

"You think it's that easy?" the voice sneered. "I may be beaten, but I will not just walk away. I'm going to take this world and your world with me. You have lost, Destined Jedi! TOTAL ANNIHILATION!"

The cube shrank until it vanished from sight. In the blink of an eye, a flash of light pierced the air before erupting like an atomic bomb exploding. The Jedi shielded their eyes away as they awaited the destruction.

But nothing came. Grunting noises filled the air as the group opened their eyes to see a shield of energy surrounded the explosion. The Jedi looked to their right.

Joe gnashed his teeth and grunted like a wildebeest as he struggled to contain the blast with his Force shields. He put all of his strength into keeping the shields up. Several droplets of blood dripped from his right nostril due to how much energy he was channeling.

"Guys, help me! I can't do this alone!" he shouted as his strength began to fail him. Joe was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion. "I'm not going to hold it up for much longer!"

A hand clasped around his wrist, followed by another on his other wrist. Joe opened his eyes and saw Matt and Tai were the ones holding them. Mimi and Sora put their hands on his shoulders, TK and Kari wrapped around his lower back, and Izzy reached out to press his hand against Joe's.

"Then let's do it together!" Tai exclaimed as he and the others passed on as much of their energy to Joe as they could. Their symbols glowed the brightest they had ever been before.

"You're never alone, Joe," Matt added with an assuring smile. "We'll always be there when you need us."

The Jedi of Reliability felt like he had been given an adrenaline shot to the heart. With the combined power of the other seven Jedi, he kept the shields up until the blast finally died down within the fields of energy. With one last yell of determination, he finally let go and the explosion went off with little more than a whimper.

A long silence overcame the Destined Jedi as they stared off into the darkness. Finally, they released their pent-up emotions in a gigantic burst of emotion: high-fiving, hugging, and a few tears of happiness were shed.

Joe was so exhausted and nauseous from the amount of energy he expended that he threw up the contents of his stomach. Matt patted him on the back until there was nothing left to expel.

Both worlds had been saved.

* * *

 **What an ending! Good ole reliable Joe comes through in a tight spot. I hope that chapter exceeded your expectations. Unlike most of the Dark Master fights, I felt that the ending to Apocalymon fit the build of the character, so to speak.**

 **Just one more chapter to go. After almost a year of writing this career-changing fic, I'm ready to close the book on it. It has become my second-highest viewed story, most reviewed, most favorited, most followed and my overall favorite. Of course, there will be more to come because we have to get through the epilogue first ;-)**

 **As always, leave a review and subscribe. I will see you guys next week for the last chapter on 'The Destined Jedi'.**


	48. Epilogue

**Reviews:**

 **Ackbarfan5556: Yup. And here it is.**

 **Music Chick: Yup, ole Joe has certainly grown during his time as a Jedi. I think the last chapter was my best too.**

 **Thanks to avengeme for following the story. Very much appreciated.**

* * *

 **This is it. This is the end of the line. It has been an amazing year writing this story that I can't believe we have reached the end. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect this fic to be as successful as it turned out to be. I'll leave a more detailed note for you guys at the end. Before we say goodbye, here is one last chapter for you all. Enjoy it ;-)**

* * *

A young man shot up from his bed with a loud gasp. A cold sweat dotted his brow from the vision he just had. His messy black hair stuck out in all directions and his drowsy brown eyes were blurry as all he saw were fuzzy shapes in his vision.

His eyes quickly started to refocus, only to remember how dark it was with everything being shrouded in shadows. Looking around his darkened room, small rays of moonlight streamed through the shut blinds. Everything was quiet, save his gasping.

The young man wiped his eyes with a groan. He was wearing nothing more than a white shirt and boxer shorts. He didn't bother changing into something else when he picked up his phone. He dialed the number he wanted to call with haste and waited as the tone rang on the line. He gave a loud yawn as his call was answered.

"Hello?" a female voice groaned in reply. The sound of the phone ringing had woken up her up.

"Hey, it's me," the young man greeted her, turning on the lamp as he sat on the side of the bed.

The young woman yawned before letting out an annoyed groan. "Do you know what time it is?" It was clearly meant to be a rhetorical question.

Looking at the digital clock beside the phone, he noticed that it was a quarter past four; way too early to be making phone calls by all accounts. He felt stupid and embarrassed, but nonetheless needed her to know what he had to say before the sun came up.

"Not really," he replied, running a hand through his hair. He suppressed a yawn that threatened to betray his condition.

"Well, it's a time where most people are asleep. Whatever it is, it can wait 'til morning."

"I felt something; something I haven't felt in a long time. I'm afraid that it may be that time once again. The incident in Odaiba yesterday with those monster sightings and children floating into the sky has me worried."

"You're just imagining things," the woman on the other end sighed. "I know that the Odaiba incident freaked you out, but there's nothing we can do. We're not needed anymore. That train departed a long time ago."

"That doesn't mean we can't help in some way," the young man replied, not willing to take 'no' for an answer. "We can't let those kids experience what we went through. Who knows what could have happened while they were on the other side. Are you with me?"

The line went silent for several seconds. For a moment he thought she would say 'no' and hang up, but she finally gave her answer.

"Be careful," she said. "I'm onto something out here, and I believe that it can help us. We're getting very close to that which we seek. I'll keep you posted on my progress, but promise me that you'll be careful."

"You know me too well," the young man snickered. "How's life out in the boonies?"

The young woman yawned before answering, "It's boring, it's flat, and it's too quiet. Luckily I only have to be out here a short while, but it's been fruitful for my project."

"Don't get too carried away. I'll see you next month at the office."

"Good night," replied Maki Himekawa with exhaustion.

"That's good _morning_ , Hime," Daigo Nishijima teased.

The line went dead.

* * *

The Destined Jedi gaped in awe as they arrived at Primary Village with their Digimon allies. The place that had once been a desolate wasteland of death and despair was now a colorful, bright, beautiful landscape. The block-like structures that were soft as pillows had been rebuilt and glowed with an assortment of colors. The bouncy turf beneath their feet was even bouncier; and the trees were decorated with an assortment of toys and stuffed animals.

"It's beautiful," Mimi breathed, her eyes wide with wonder.

Elecmon smiled proudly. "Yes it is. And now that the Dark Masters have been destroyed, life will return to Primary Village once more."

After they left Apocalymon's dimension, the Jedi learned that the Digital World would start over from the beginning. They took this news happily because it meant that old friends they had lost would be reborn such as Leomon. File Island was the first thing in the Digital World to be restored and soon everything else would be too.

"Look at that!" TK cried, pointing up to the sky.

The group looked up and saw many eggs, possibly tens of thousands of them, falling from the sky like rain. Because the ground was like a big trampoline, the eggs were not harmed when they would land on the ground.

TK and Kari rushed into the village to get a look at the new eggs. Elecmon quickly followed to make sure things went okay and no eggs were damaged. Kari felt an egg land gently against her foot as TK and Elecmon went on without her. It was covered in white and light brown stripes. She picked it up and started rubbing it gently.

Back at the main group, the older kids watched in fascination. It took a lot of hard work and they almost wondered if they were going to survive as a group at all, but seeing everything return to what it looked like when they first got there filled them with joy. It had all been worth it.

"You know, I was thinking," said Andromon. "We should take a picture to commemorate this special occasion. The defeat of the Dark Masters and the rebirth of the Digital World deserves more than just a place in our hearts and minds."

"That's an excellent idea, Andromon," Tai smiled. The rest of the Jedi agreed as Izzy ran off to bring TK, Kari, and Elecmon back to them so they could take the photo.

Joe dug around his duffle bag for his camera and handed it to Andromon, who volunteered to take the picture for everyone. As they got organized for the shot, Kari felt the egg in her arms start to shake gently.

"Everybody ready?" Andromon asked as he focused the camera to the right frame. The Jedi and Digimon nodded.

"Alright. One."

The shaking became much more frequent.

"Two."

Kari thought it would burst at any second, almost as if the egg had suddenly developed a cold. She looked down at it.

SNAP!

POOF!

A cloud of pink dust shot up from Kari's hands just as the flash went off on the camera. When the dust cleared, a small black dot with glowing yellow eyes had taken the place of the egg in the girl's arms.

"Aw! How cute!" Kari exclaimed as she rubbed the newly-hatched creature against her cheek.

"Bo! Bo! Bo!" it exclaimed happily feeling the soft flesh of the girl's cheek rubbing against it.

Everyone gathered around the camera to check if the shot was good enough to be used. When they saw it, everyone laughed. The pink cloud had covered everyone and ruined the shot.

"Dang it!" Ogremon groaned once he got a look at the picture. "It couldn't have waited until after the shot to hatch?"

"It's okay, Ogremon," Tai chuckled. "We can retake it."

The ogre exhaled with annoyance. "Fine. But I'm not doing anymore after this one. It better come out perfect."

So once again, everyone got in the positions they had been in just a second ago for another chance at taking the picture. They waited patiently as Andromon set up the shot.

"Okay, everybody ready?" the android asked, raising the camera to his face.

"Yes!"

"Alright. One. Two. Three."

The shutter flashed brightly for a split second. The kids tried hard not to blink until it finally died down. They gathered around Andromon once again to make absolutely sure it was perfect.

Joe hit the return button on the side and the picture popped up. The group almost got tears in their eyes. It was absolutely perfect. When they turned around, they saw Ogremon had adorned an outfit that reminded the Jedi of a rogue samurai. He wore a Chinese straw hat with a black cape cascading down his back.

"Where are you going, Ogremon?" Mimi asked.

"It's time for me to leave," he replied. "I've got to start rebuilding my life from the ground up and wait for the day Leomon is reborn. He and I will forever be fierce rivals; no matter what comes between the two of us."

"Aw, come on!" Sora prodded. "Why don't you stay with us for a while longer?"

The ogre's eyes bulged out of his skull. "Stay? With you lot?" he laughed heartily, like it was the greatest joke he ever heard. "I can't be caught hanging around you guys much longer. I have a reputation to keep. Catch you later."

Without another word, Ogremon ran away from Primary Village until he disappeared into the trees. The Jedi snickered. He looked very much like a cowboy riding off into the sunset.

"You know, I think he just doesn't want to admit that he likes us," said Joe.

Everyone laughed.

* * *

The Jedi walked aimlessly around File Island for a few hours to use up as much of the time they had left in the Digital World as possible. They visited several places that they had been to like the abandoned factory; the ruins of the mansion that Devimon made them believe was real; and the oasis in the desert. All the while, they reminisced on the good times and all the adventures that they had.

Now they found themselves at the lake that they had spent their first night at and Matt killed the sea monster that attacked them. The trolley car was still in the same place where they left it and undisturbed.

It seemed like a normal day on the beach for the Jedi; the sun beat down on the shore, sending soothing warmth through their bodies, and the cool breeze drifted along to compliment it. This was their reward for all the hard work and sacrifice they had to make in order to save the Digital World.

"Hey," said Joe, breaking the peaceful atmosphere. "Do you guys think that when we get back, we'll be greeted as heroes? It'd be just like when the first astronauts arrived back from space."

Slowly, the other Jedi nodded their heads in agreement. They were successful in saving not just the Digital World, but the Earth as well. The fact the incident had been so widely publicized meant their faces were possibly shown the world over. What if the Emperor himself honored them? Oh, that would be a thrill.

Matt then said, "You know, we still have a lot of summer left. We could just stay here until our holiday is over. We'd patrol the island and make sure that nothing bad happens during that time. What do you guys think?"

Once again, everybody nodded in agreement. They weren't ready to leave just yet, so they may as well stay until it was time to go back to school.

"We might as well," said Izzy. "We've got plenty of time. One day in the Digi-World is just one minute in our world and we've still got four more week left of summer vacation." He then added up the total amount in his head. "That would be about three-thousand, four-hundred and twenty days; that's one-hundred and ten years."

Tai pumped his fist in the air. "Then we're staying!"

The others roared in agreement.

But before they could settle themselves further onto the sand, they sensed someone nearby.

"Not possible," said a familiar voice.

The Jedi looked behind them and their jaws almost hit the ground. They couldn't believe what they were seeing. Matt wasn't as taken aback as the others. Instead, he smiled at the figure standing amongst the trees.

"Hey, Gennai," he greeted. "Nice to see you."

The Force ghost of the old man walked gracefully along the sand, leaving no footprints behind, until he reached them.

"Greetings, Destined Jedi," he said. "I knew you could save the Digital World. I never doubted you. Thank you for all you have done not just for me, but all the other life forms here as well."

No one could reply, for they were too stunned by the realization that Gennai was standing right in front of them. Tears of happiness built up in their eyes.

"Gennai," Izzy breathed, feeling a tear starting to slide down his cheek. He wiped it away with one stroke of his hand. "How is this possible? We saw-"

Gennai laughed that low, belly laugh that sounded like smooth sandpaper on the Jedi's ears. "The Force works in mysterious ways, my friends," he said. "As your friend Matt experienced, I had been learning the ways of manifesting my conscience into a physical body for many years. Now, I am able to communicate with you even after my physical body has died. There are several beings that, when they become one with the Force, they can walk the world as ghosts."

"It's not that we're unhappy to see you, Gennai, but what do you mean it's not possible for us not to stay?" Tai asked, cutting the happy reunion short.

"Look up there," Gennai pointed up at the sky. The group looked and saw a shadow was passing over the lower quarter of the left side of the sun; an eclipse.

"Yeah? That's an eclipse," said Joe. "What about it?"

"That is no ordinary eclipse: it is the gate that connects your world to the Digital World. I'm afraid that the eclipse will only be for another hour."

The children continued to look up at the sky. They only had one more hour before their gateway home would close up for who knows how long. It would possibly be decades until it opened up again.

"That's okay," said Mimi. "We still have basically over a hundred years of summer vacation left. We'll just wait for the next one to happen."

Gennai sighed sadly, only fueling the group's nervousness. "Actually, when Apocalymon appeared, the flow of time between your world and the Digital World became synchronized."

"We still only have four weeks then," Matt added, clinging on to the hope that the Jedi would be able to stay in the Digital World for a while longer.

"Nope. You only have the one hour left. It hurts me to tell you this, children. It really does. I will help you prepare the trolley car to take you back home."

A somber silence fell over the once-happy atmosphere. It would be like if someone pulled all of the lights out on the Las Vegas Strip and told everyone to leave the city. As much as the Jedi did not want to leave, the fact that it was possible they would not be able to return home for a long time worried them. They missed their families and desperately wanted to return to them.

Izzy and Joe began work on the cable car as the others took more time to take in the last sights they wanted to see before it was time to leave. Tai took Kari to the beach where he fought the giant shellfish and showed her everywhere they went that first day; Sora, Mimi, Matt, and TK went back to Primary Village to help Elecmon take care of some of the babies.

They had made so many memories in such a short time: some bad, but most of them were good. In that time, they had truly become a family in every sense of the word. They had looked after each other when times were rough; they gave each other strength; and they never gave up, even when it would have been easy for them to do so. At the end of the day, they were still just children, and were expected to do something that seemed so astronomically impossible.

With ten minutes left, the cable car was ready and everyone had returned to the lake.

"Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye," Tai said, desperately trying to keep himself from crying. "Thank you for everything, Gennai. We could not have survived without you."

"You're very welcome, Tai," Gennai smiled at him. "There is one more thing I need you all to do before you leave."

"What is that, Gennai?" asked Sora.

"When Apocalymon appeared, the divide between the real world and the digital world started to erase," he explained. "In order to prevent evil from ever coming back to the Digital World and possibly affecting yours, we need to seal it."

"How do we do that?" TK asked.

"By giving up your connection to the Force. With your combined power, it will reaffirm the barrier."

The children looked amongst each other. It was becoming Destined Jedi that had brought them closer together. They went through things that no kid their age should ever have to go through, but they came out of it stronger people. They had done their part; and now it was time to give back so that evil never returned.

Tai sighed. "Then we know what we must do. Get in a circle, everyone."

The others followed his instructions and circled around each other. They took each other's hands and closed their eyes, much like when they opened the gate to come back. They concentrated deeply, feeling the Force energy in their bloodstreams rise up to the surface of their skin.

Eight balls of energy in the shape of the symbols on their arms left their bodies and went into the middle of the circle. They spun in a circle, slowly gaining speed until the balls were blurs, before finally launching into the sky and going off in separate directions.

The children collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. It had taken every single ounce of energy that they had to perform it. The Jedi felt like a light switch had been turned off inside of them: they couldn't sense anything other than what was happening in front of them. It was like walking blind in the dark. Their symbols had vanished when they glanced down at their wrists.

"It has been done," said Gennai.

"What about our lightsabers, Gennai?" Joe asked, taking the saber into his hand. "Do we have to give those up too?"

Gennai chuckled. "No, keep those. Consider them a souvenir of your time here. Just make sure you use them wisely." The Jedi laughed along with him. He then became serious again. "Now quickly, get on the trolley before the gate closes. You don't have much time left."

The group nodded wordlessly as they piled on to the trolley car. It finally hit them that they were going home. Once they did get home, they would be normal kids again. Life was sure going to be boring without the same thrill of every day being a different adventure.

"Well," Tai's voice shook as he spoke through a lifted window, trying to choke back his tears before they erupted. "So long."

"May the Force forever be with you, children," Gennai returned, giving the group a warm smile.

With a sudden rush of electricity, the trolley roared to life and flew up into the sky. The children waved goodbye to Gennai as they got further and further away from the rock. Eight small flashes of light appeared behind Gennai to reveal the eight Guardian Digimon.

"Goodbye!" they all cried, waving up at the trolley. The Jedi waved back until it was too far to see them. Gennai and the Digimon disappeared from the beach once they became a small speck in the sky.

As the trolley climbed higher and higher into the sky, the children sat down on the benches silently. Their adventure was now over and they were going home. It was quiet for a few short seconds until Mimi started to silently cry. Aside from a few sniffles, she hid her tears well by burying her face in her hands. Slowly, everyone began to cry as well.

Through their tears, they asked themselves: Were they happy to be going home or sad to be leaving another one?

* * *

 _Several weeks later_

Joe had been right.

Upon arriving back home, the Jedi were welcomed with a celebration fit for conquering heroes. They had been given their own parade down the middle of downtown Tokyo. The route stretched from Tokyo Tower all the way to the Imperial Palace, where they were honored for courage, bravery, and distinguished service by the Emperor and Empress.

Crowds gathered in the streets to pay homage to the eight children who put the safety of the world in their hands. It seemed like all of Tokyo – all of _Japan_ for that matter – had turned up for the celebration. Never before had the kids seen crowds that large; it was almost unnerving.

Their families could not have been more prouder of them.

TK and Matt's parents' relationship improved to the point that they became better friends as the boys spent more time together. Sora and her mom's relationship improved leaps and bounds until the two became inseparable. Izzy had also gotten closer to his parents.

Despite the gate being closed, the former Destined Jedi continued to hold on to hope that one day they would be able to go back to the Digital World.

One thing was for certain: They never would forget their adventures.

* * *

 _? Years Later_

Standing up on top of a rocky formation overlooking a plain was a young boy. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes and his dark raven hair was scattered like a severe case of bed head.

He stared out at the landscape before him. The vast territory stretched all the way out to the horizon far beyond. Darkness crept slowly overhead, but it didn't concern him as a wicked grin crept up his face.

"All of this now belongs to me," the young male muttered before projecting his voice out to the entire Digital World. "Hear this: you all now belong to me! I am the Digimon Emperor, and you all will fear me from this day forward! If you dare to resist, I will bend you to my command! Be prepared!"

He threw his head back as a maniacal laugh roared from his mouth, and a torrential burst of lightning exploded from his gloved fingertips into the sky above.

* * *

 **Wow! Now that is a good way to end it. Hope you guys enjoyed it. For the ending theme songs, go ahead and play the Jurassic Park ending theme when they are leaving the Digital World, the ending song from Phantom Menace, something menacing for you-know-who's appearance, and then the ending Star Wars theme.**

 **Almost exactly one year, over 110 reviews, 31 follows and favorites, and 9,100 views later, this story finally comes to an end. I was in a very dark place when I began the planning of this fic; I was just about ready to give up on everything but this story saved me from myself more or less. This got me through a very difficult time but now I'm happier because of it. Like I said up top, never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to be as successful as it became.**

 **There are so many people I want to thank because they've been a big help to me in so many ways.**

 **Music Chick: I could not have done this without you. You gave me a new lease on my life here at FF and I look forward to what is coming next. Even when you had to step away from me, I had the confidence to continue on because of all the work we did together for the first 60 percent of the story. Your friendship and advice means more to me than you could ever know.**

 **Ackbarfan5556: You have become one of my best friends through our bond over our stories. I thank you for all the great conversations we have had and all the work we have done together (and will continue to do in the future). Thanks for being such a great constant reviewer and making me look forward to something special every single weekend.**

 **Emperor Serperior: Even if you couldn't review a lot, your advice and thoughts mattered a lot to me. I want to say thank you for always pushing me to be better than my last chapter.**

 **I'm sure you all are curious as to what I am doing from this point forward. First, I am going to be going off the grid for a while (roughly a couple months) to rest up and recharge after working on this fic for a year. After that, I will begin work on the next story in this trilogy: Attack of the Emperor. With all the stuff I have worked out for it, you guys are going to be in for quite a treat. I'm aiming for a mid-July release after I get moved in to my apartment in the city where I'll be going to grad school at. I'll also be turning 'The Destined Jedi' into an audiobook as well so stay on the lookout for that.**

 **Overall, I want to thank you all so much for being loyal followers and fans of this fic. I appreciate you all more than you could ever know. So, to quote one of the songs that left an impact on me as a little kid, I leave you with this:**

 _ **So long**_

 _ **Farewell**_

 _ **To you, my friends**_

 _ **Goodbye, for now**_

 _ **Until we meet again**_


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